Combination treatment with partial enteral nutrition and biologics as induction therapy for adults with active ileocolonic Crohn’s Disease: a pilot study

Meropi Kontogianni © Meropi Kontogianni

Background & aim of research

There is strong interest in investigating combination therapies for active Crohn’s Disease (CD) to improve response to biologics and to mitigate secondary loss of response, without increasing the risk of drug-associated side effects. Exclusive enteral nutrition is an established treatment for active CD, but tolerance is poor. In partial enteral nutrition (PEN) only part of the habitual diet is replaced by the proprietary formula, allowing patients to eat some normal food. PEN at high volume (>50% energy requirements) can prolong remission compared to unrestricted diet. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to compare clinical remission/response rates to standard treatment with adalimumab (ADA) between a group of CD patients on unrestricted diet and another group on 50% PEN. Secondary aims are to explore how these two treatments change the gut microbiome composition and its diet-related function.

Assessment of desire and sexual function in Inflammatory Bowel Disease patients: a cross-sectional study with matched controls

Zahira Pérez  © Zahira Pérez

Background & aim of research

Sexual dysfunction (SD) rates are higher in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patient population compared with the general population. Overall among IBD patients, low sexual desire and greater difficulty in achieving orgasms are the most frequently reported sexual problems. In addition, women report worse body image and lower sexual desire. Being diagnosed with major depression, undergoing surgery or suffering IBD symptoms are the usual triggers.

Despite the importance of sexual well-being, there is a lack of research focusing on sexual desire in IBD patients. This study aims to assess the prevalence of sexual dysfunction and to analyse sexual desire from a dual viewpoint: a dyadic and a solitary perspective. The intention is to describe sexual function and its possible correlations with the presence of anxiety and depression, disease activity and quality of life.

Recognizing the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in IBD patients can improve clinical practice and optimize resource planning for sexual healthcare. Early diagnosis and primary prevention can help address sexuality-related concerns in this population.

Marc Ferrante © ECCO

Isabelle Cleynen © ECCO

Timothy Raine © ECCO

At the recent 18^th Congress of ECCO, Sebastian Zeissig (Dresden, Germany) stepped down as a member of the ECCO Scientific Committee. After two years of active membership, Sebastian became SciCom Chair back in 2020. Although this period was greatly affected by the pandemic, Sebastian made sure that ECCO continued to support clinical, translational and basic science. During his chairmanship, the different ECCO Fellowships, Grants and Travel Awards were streamlined and optimised. Together with the rest of the team, he spent a lot of energy in finding appropriate reviewers for the dozens of project proposals received every year. Sebastian was also the driving force behind the new ECCO Young Researcher Award, which was granted for the first time earlier this year. As SciCom Chair, he supervised two successful Scientific Workshops, one on precision medicine (together with Michael Scharl) and another on postoperative Crohn’s Disease recurrence (together with Yves Panis and Marc Ferrante). We thank Sebastian for his great enthusiasm, his perseverance and his friendship.

Dear IBD Colleagues and Friends, 

After the previous two editions of our Annual Congress had to be conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we once again had the opportunity to share and exchange knowledge and ideas in person during the 18^th Congress of ECCO, held from March 1-4, 2023. This was really exciting!

First, the Educational Programme, which was scheduled prior to the official start of the ECCO Congress, covered activities for ECCO's different interest groups, including young gastroenterologists, surgeons, paediatricians, pathologists, IBD Nurses and allied health professionals and scientists. The Programme included two exciting imaging courses offered in collaboration with ESGAR & IBUS, the School for Clinical Trialists and our Basic Science and SciCom Workshops. 

The 18^th Congress of ECCO, Copenhagen, Denmark – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases 2023, held on March 1-4, 2023, attracted a total number of 6,754 delegates from 100 different countries. Since the inaugural ECCO Congress in 2006 in Amsterdam, at which there were 350 delegates, participant numbers have steadily increased, as shown in the graph below. Despite the COVID-19 outbreak in the beginning of 2020, we are happy that this high number of delegates had the chance to participate in the ECCO’23 Congress in Copenhagen.

Britta Siegmund © ECCO

Dear ECCO Friends,

It was not only wonderful to meet all members of the ECCO family in Copenhagen, but also to have a personal exchange again. Without a doubt, all the committees and workshops have also benefited from this "traditional – in person" format, as we will see in a moment from the summary of the many activities of the Congress in this issue. First of all, however, I am delighted to have taken over the presidency from Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet and to be able to lead, strengthen and develop the ECCO family with all its activities over the next two years!

Brigida Barberio © Brigida Barberio

Dear ECCO Friends and Community,

It is our pleasure to introduce our conversation with the National Representatives of Italy at ECCO, Sara Onali and  Marco Daperno. Sara Onali is an Associate Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Cagliari, and Marco Daperno is a Gastroenterology Consultant at Mauriziano Hospital of Torino. In this conversation, Sara and Marco tell us about their background and expertise and they talk about our National IBD society, IG-IBD. Particularly, they tell us what IG-IBD offers to its members and which are the opportunities for research and publication with it. 

In addition, they summarize the differences in IBD care among the different centers in Italy.

We hope you enjoy it!

Brigida Barberio

Dear ECCO friends and family,

Please join us for the second episode of our podcast series Meet the JCC Authors!

We are thrilled to have with us two brilliant colleagues: Dr. Maria Chaparro from Hospital Universitario de La Princesa in Madrid, Spain and Dr. Mette Julsgaard from Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. We will be discussing their recent paper in the Journal of Crohns and Colitis titled: "Surgery due to Inflammatory Bowel Disease During Pregnancy: Mothers and Offspring Outcomes From an ECCO CONFER Multicentre Case Series [Scar Study]". This is a seminal study organized under the auspices of the ECCO CONFER initiative and it really highlights how this collaborative approach can aid in the evaluation and understanding of rare IBD populations and subgroups. So come with us as we take a deep dive with the authors in the evolution of pregnancies and offspring after IBD surgery during pregnancy and hear them explain to us their findings and take home messages from examining the largest series to date of this extremely serious situation.

Enjoy and do not forget to spread the word about our new podcast to your friends and colleagues!

Edouard Louis © Edouard Louis

The BIOCYCLE project has now been ongoing for more than 7 years and is approaching its end. This project, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme, aims to explore different aspects of the difficult issue of treatment de-escalation in moderate to severe Crohn’s Disease first requiring a combination therapy with anti-TNF and antimetabolites to control the disease. Once the disease has been stabilised, an unsolved question is whether it is possible to de-escalate therapy. This question is important for several reasons, including safety, tolerance, quality of life and costs, to name the most prominent. BIOCYCLE includes a randomised three-arm, controlled clinical trial called SPARE, conducted on 200 patients in six European countries (France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany) and Australia, several patients’ and health care providers’ surveys in Europe and the United States, a biomarker research programme and pharmaco-economic analysis. ECCO is mainly involved in the monitoring of the project (through IBDIM) and is the work package leader for dissemination of the results. BIOCYCLE is a 7.5-year-long project and was launched in April 2015.

Robin Dart © ECCO

Krisztina Gecse is a consultant gastroenterologist at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre. She is well known to ECCO as a past Chair of ClinCom and is now at the forefront of the international push towards bowel ultrasound as President Elect of the International Bowel Ultrasound Group. I met with her to hear about her journey from Hungary to Amsterdam and how bowel ultrasound might just be your future….