The PANTS study

Nicholas Kennedy © ECCO

Use of the anti-TNF alpha monoclonal antibodies infliximab and adalimumab has transformed the management of patients with refractory Crohn’s Disease. However, clinicians and patients are all too aware that anti-TNF treatment failure is common: 10%–40% of patients fail to respond to induction therapy (referred to as primary non-response: PNR), up to 40% of patients suffer secondary loss of response in the first year of therapy and approximately 10% suffer an adverse drug reaction that curtails treatment.

In faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for Ulcerative Colitis, Fusobacterium is associated with lack of remission, while metabolic shifts to starch degradation and short chain fatty acid production are associated with remission (FOCUS study)

Sudarshan Paramsothy © ECCO

The randomised controlled FOCUS study [1], along with other trials [2–4], suggests that FMT is effective in the treatment of patients with active Ulcerative Colitis (UC). However, the underlying microbial basis and predictors of therapeutic outcome in UC are largely unknown. We therefore performed in-depth microbial analyses on the samples collected during the FOCUS study to help identify bacterial taxonomic and functional changes associated with FMT in UC, particularly those predictive of therapeutic success or failure.

Janneke van der Woude © ECCO

During the ECCO’18 Vienna Congress the Scientific Committee cordially welcomed Michael Scharl and Sebastian Zeissig as new members.

The educational programme of the 14^th Congress of ECCO starts prior to the official start of the ECCO Congress and courses take place from March 6-8, 2019. These activities are targeted towards ECCO’s different interest groups including young gastroenterologists, surgeons, paediatricians, IBD nurses, dietitians and allied health professionals and scientists.

An overview of these activities can be found below. Please note that some of these courses/workshops run in parallel and that some have a limited capacity – please register at your earliest convenience.

We look forward to seeing you in Copenhagen!

The Scientific Programme of the 14^th Congress of ECCO provides attendees the unique opportunity to learn from the world’s leading specialists in the field of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Held from Thursday to Saturday, March 7-9, 2019, the Scientific Programme is structured around basic science, translational medicine and clinical sessions. Additionally, it includes oral presentations of the 38 best abstracts of the Congress. The focus of all sessions is clinical practice founded on science with practical take home messages and, as every year, the congress registration fee includes access to all scientific sessions.

Register now and seize the opportunity to hear current and relevant studies from international experts in IBD!

Silvio Danese  ©  ECCO

Dear ECCO friends,

Improving the care of IBD patients is one of ECCO’s most valuable purposes. This goal is achieved through enhancement of our knowledge of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Two programmes highlighted in this issue of ECCO News move in this direction: The UR-CARE database, which seeks to achieve this goal through intense collaboration between researchers in Europe via a shared database, and the e-CCO Learning Platform, which many of you had the opportunity to experience during the 13th ECCO Congress in Vienna. This intiative is particularly exciting because it offers physicians a tool to fill in learning gaps using the ECCO IBD Curriculum. Both of these tools will contribute to reinforce the excellence of IBD centres.

Pieter Hindryckx © ECCO

Willem Bemelman

Position: Secretary 2018–2020

Nationality: Dutch

Born: December 17, 1958

Past ECCO Positions: 
     • Co-founder of S-ECCO
     • S-ECCO Chair
     • Chair, Surgical ECCO Guidelines on Crohn’s Disease

Laurence J. Egan © ECCO

Dear ECCO Friends,

As with every year, the ECCO Congress in Vienna was the occasion for the Editorial Team of the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis (JCC) – including the Associate Editors (AE) and the Editorial Board Members – to meet in order to evaluate the achievements of the previous year and to discuss new projects and ideas with the aim of keeping JCC at a high level of quality in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology journals with a focus on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. I would like to seize this opportunity to introduce you to the new Associate Editors and Editorial Board Members who joined the JCC team at the ECCO Congress and over the past few months.

Johan Burisch © ECCO

The “United Registries for Clinical Assessment and Research” (UR-CARE) database is an IBDIM (IBD in Motion, the research unit of ECCO) initiative to facilitate daily patient care and research studies in IBD in centres and/or research groups across Europe. The UR-CARE database [1] offers comprehensive data collection, including data on disease characteristics, diagnostic procedures (such as endoscopy or imaging), medical and surgical treatments, and laboratory tests. Several databases developed for use in IBD already exist, but usually these have been implemented in clinical practice or research studies without validation. 

Dear ECCO Friends,

We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to all of you who stopped by at the UR-CARE Training Centre to familiarise yourselves with your potential own new patient registry for the future.