Daily Recap, Monday, October 12

Today marked the second day of the UEG Week Virtual 2020 congress! 

There was plenty to digest within the day's programme, including 25 abstract-based sessions, live Crash Courses and sympsoium, as well as opportunities for networking and development within the myUEG Community area. The day also saw the opening of the Live Demo Hall, with course sessions and live demos on ultrasound throughout the day. 

Lifetime Achievement Awardee 2020: Peter Milla

The day kicked-off with a “Good Morning UEG Week” session, where Peter Milla received the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award.

Peter Milla is widely acknowledged by the gastroenterology community in Europe and globally as an outstanding Clinician Scientist, leader and mentor who enabled and improved the lives of children and adults.

Peter Milla has made unique contributions to the fields of intestinal failure, inflammation, nutrition, and motility. He was a driving force for the introduction of transplantation techniques to treat congenital and inflammatory gut defects and played a critical role in the development of paediatric gastroenterology as a new specialty. As Chairman of UEGF Council and Treasurer he was pivotal in creating UEG’s firm financial foundation, enabling UEG’s spectacular development, its unique brand, and the House of European Gastroenterology in Vienna.

Upon receiving the award, presented by Berthold Koletzko, Peter Milla explained, “I am incredibly grateful to be receiving such a prestigious award and would like to thank my family and the many colleagues that I have had the privilege of working with during my personal career. Thank you.”

“Although I am now retired, it is not to say that I have lost interest. I really enjoy seeing what the young gastroenterologists are doing and how they will go on to achieve great things. It is important that we nurture their ambition and support them on their journey, so that they may realise their potential.”

Watch the Lifetime Achievement Award presentation

Scientific Highlights: COVID-19 and CRC Screening

Researchers from the University of Bologna produced a model to forecast the impact of time delays in CRC screening, caused by COVID-19, on CRC mortality. The results found that moderate (7-12 months) and large (>12 months) delays in screening caused a 3% and 7% increase in advanced stage CRC, respectively.

Based on survival rates at 5 years for stage III-IV CRC, the results showed a significant 11.9% increase in deaths when comparing a 0-3 month delay to a >12 month delay.

Lead author of the study, Luigi Ricciardiello, comments, “Across the globe, healthcare systems are facing serious difficulties while dealing with COVID-19 and it is imperative that support is given to the public and patients throughout the crisis, including for high-impact diseases such as CRC.”

“Early-stage diagnosis for CRC is crucial – it’s far easier to treat and enhances optimal patient outcomes. It is therefore essential that vital diagnosis tools, like screening programmes, continue and help to prevent mortality rates from rising even further.”

CRC is Europe’s second largest cancer killer, and is the most common digestive cancer. Annually, there are 375,000 newly diagnosed cases in the EU and it claims the lives of over 170,000 people.

Congratulations to this year's Rising Stars!

Every year, the Rising Star Awards are presented to a small group of the most promising, emerging scientists. Awardees are jointly selected by the National Societies Committee and the Scientific Committee based on a track record of international quality research and developing scientific independence.

The award provides a durable platform for young researchers to further evolve their professional career.

Congratulations to this year’s awardees – Vincenzo Cardinale, Italy; Ainara Castellanos Rubio, Spain; Maria Chaparro, Spain; Virginia Hernández-Gea, Spain; Gianluca Ianiro, Italy; Maxime Mahé, France; Roos E Pouw, The Netherlands; Prakash Ramachandran, United Kingdom; Espen Melum, Norway; Michael Sigal, Germany.

Prakash Ramachandran commented, “Being selected to receive the UEG Rising Star award for 2020 is a real honour. Previous winners have produced some of the most important recent research developments in Gastroenterology and Hepatology, so joining this illustrious group of award winners is truly humbling.”

“One of the great joys of research is that it is a genuine team effort, so I must thank everybody who has helped me over the years and contributed to this success. I hope that I can continue to contribute to important new research over the years to come.”

Learn more about the UEG Rising Star Award

Scientific Highlights: Allergies During Childhood Associated with IBS

Asthma and food hypersensitivity at age 12 is associated with an increased risk of having IBS at aged 16, a study presented today by Jessica Sjölund has shown. 

The research, conducted at the University of Gothenburg and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, analysed the health of 2,770 children from birth to the age of 16. Those with IBS at 16 were almost twice as likely to have had asthma at the age of 12 (11.2% vs 6.7%). Almost half of children with IBS at 16 (40.7%) reported food hypersensitivity at 12 years (compared to 29.2% of children without IBS at 16). The research also showed that asthma, food hypersensitivity and eczema were all associated with an increased risk of concurrent IBS at 16 years.

“The associations found in this large study suggest there’s a shared pathophysiology between common allergy-related diseases and adolescent irritable bowel syndrome”, she explained. “We knew that allergy and immune dysregulation had been suggested to play a role in the development of irritable bowel syndrome, but previous studies on allergy-related diseases and irritable bowel syndrome are contradictory”.

“This knowledge could open up for developing new treatment methods for adolescent IBS, targeting processes of low grade inflammation seen in these allergy-related diseases.”

Scientific Highlights: Bariatric Surgery and Pancreatic Cancer

A 20-year analysis study has found that bariatric (weight loss) surgery cuts the risk of developing pancreatic cancer in people who are obese with diabetes.

The study analysed 1,435,350 patients with concurrent diabetes and obesity, with over 10,000 of these patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Obese patients with diabetes were significantly less likely to develop pancreatic cancer if they had undergone the surgery (0.32% vs 0.19%, p<0.05).

The findings are particularly timely, with rates of diabetes, obesity and pancreatic cancer all on the rise.

Aslam Syed, the study’s lead author, explained, “Obesity and diabetes are well-known risk factors for pancreatic cancer via chronic inflammation, excess hormones and growth factors released by body fat. Bariatric surgery has previously been shown to improve high blood sugar levels in diabetic patients and our research shows that this surgery is a viable way in reducing the risk of pancreatic cancer in this growing, at-risk group.”

See you tomorrow! Watch out for...

Tomorrow will mark the third and final day of this year's congress.

The programme will once again feature a number of abstract-based sessions, covering a range of topics including, colorectal cancer screening, IBD and liver transplantation. There's also a late-breaker session dedicated to COVID-19 and GI (12:00-13:00 CEST), featuring breakthrough studies from Spain, Italy and the UK. We'll also see more live demonstrations from the Live Demo Hall, with tomororow's focus on endoscopy. 

That's all for today's recap! Tune in tomorrow for a final installment of highlights from the scientific and wider congress programme.