Postgraduate Teaching (PGT) 

Advanced colorectal cancer
•    Role of chemotherapy in metastatic colon and rectal cancer
•    Other aspects of palliation: Pain management, nutrition, etc.
•    Management of recurrence of colorectal cancer
•    Management of  high risk and elderly colorectal cancer patients

Constipation
•    Diagnostic work-up of constipated patients depending on age and symptoms
•    Role of diet, physical activity, fluid intake etc.
•    Medical therapy
•    Biofeedback and other behavioural treatment alternatives
•    Indications for surgery, including sacral nerve stimulation

Diverticular disease
•    Pathogenesis of diverticular disease
•    Management of symptomatic disease
•    Management of acute diverticulitis
•    Role of imaging and endoscopy in diverticular disease management
•    Indications for surgery and surgical options

Proctology
•    Identification and management of common proctological problems, including haemorrhoids, fissures and pruritus ani
•    Investigation and management of anal fistula, including imaging and surgical management
•    Defaecatory and continence disorders and the pelvic floor

Faecal incontinence
•    Pathophysiology and differential diagnosis of faecal incontinence
•    Manometric classification of anorectal disorders
•    Current tests of anorectal motor and sensory function
•    Therapeutic management: Conservative, pharmacological, behavioural and surgical modalities

Infectious colitis
•    Evaluation, differential diagnosis and management of patients with acute diarrhoea
•    Clostridium difficile: First-line management and recurrent infections
•    Faecal transplantation: Indications and modalities

Management of abdominal emergencies
•    Overview of potential causes of the acute abdomen (non-surgical and surgical)
•    Clinical assessment, laboratory and imaging diagnostic tools
•    Initial therapeutic management of the acute abdomen
•    Novel areas of development and innovations

Management of colorectal polyps and early colorectal cancer 
•    Screening strategies according to risk stratification
•    Endoscopic detection, characterisation and reporting
•    Therapeutic management: From endoscopy to surgery

Quality in endoscopic practice
•    Understanding the importance of establishing quality measurements in endoscopy
•    Overview of the different quality measurements in oesophago-gastroduodenoscopy (OGD) and colonoscopy
•    How to set up a safe and efficient endoscopic service
•    Insights in safety issues regarding sterilisation and radioprotection

Video Case Sessions

Biliary cannulation, spincterotomy/precut and stone disease and ERCP in altered anatomy
•    Biliary cannulation: Papillary and ductal anatomy, cannulation techniques, including device, guidewire/contrast use, double guidewire
•    Biliary sphincterotomy and precut: Techniques and recognition of perforations and complications
•    Biliary stone disease: Diagnosis, standard extraction techniques and advanced techniques
•    ERCP in altered anatomy: Identification of the desired loop and cannulation techniques in patients with altered anatomy

Endoscopic diagnosis and management of Barrett's oesophagus and associated neoplasia, early gastric and duodenal lesions
•    Early gastric lesions and early duodenal lesions: Identification and characterisation, resection techniques and management of complications
•    Barrett's oesophagus and associated neoplasia: Characterisation of Barrett’s and visible lesions, resection techniques (EMR, ESD) and ablation techniques (RFA and Cryo)

Advanced diagnostic endoscopy
•    Techniques for enhancing endoscopic vision: Chromo-endoscopy, high definition, NBI, FICE and endo-microscopy
•    Intraductal exploration with cholangioscopy
•    Enhancing EUS: Elastography, sonoview and endo-microscopy

Malignant biliary obstruction
•    Differential diagnosis of biliary strictures: Clinical assessment, laboratory tests, imaging techniques and tissue acquisition
•    The role of endoscopy and surgery in the management of malignant biliary strictures

Video Case Sessions

Endoscopic management of pancreatobiliary diseases
•    Endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of hilar and distal biliary strictures, including diagnosis with cholangioscopy and treatment with stenting
•    Endoscopic management of strictures and stones in patients with chronic pancreatitis
•    Endoscopic diagnosis of pancreatic cysts: EUS for the diagnosis of pancreatic cystic lesions, differential diagnosis, tools to enhance diagnosis

Endoscopic treatment of mid and lower gut diseases (excluding polyps)
•    Diagnostic and therapeutic management for lower GI bleeding, including timing and modalities for endoscopic treatment
•    Diagnosis and therapeutic management in small bowel disease, including indications and modalities for deep enteroscopy, as well as management for suspected small bowel bleeding and polyp resection
•    Endoscopic management of patients with IBD: colon cancer surveillance, polyp and stricture management
•    Endoscopic management of GI strictures (oesophageal, duodenal and colon: dilation and stent insertion)

How to use drugs in IBD
•    Modalities of therapeutic drug monitoring of biologics
•    Prevention and management of drug-related complications
•    Thiopurines and methotrexate: For whom and how?

Management of ulcerative colitis (UC)
•    Standard therapeutic management of patients with UC
•    The optimal use of 5-ASA therapy
•    Therapy with thiopurines: Is there still a role in UC and for whom?
•    Anti-TNF and anti-integrins and JAK inhibitors: Mechanisms and optimal use in UC and the use of newer pharmacological agents
•    When should surgery be considered in UC?

Monitoring of disease activity in IBD
•    Objective measures of disease activity
•    Ultrasound, MRI capsule endoscopy and endoscopy 
•    Biochemical markers 

Difficult to treat IBD
•    How to define treatment failure and refractory IBD
•    Infectious complications to consider
•    Therapeutic options in patients failing biological agents
•    The role of surgery in refractory cases

Early management of IBD
•    Differential diagnosis of the patient with chronic diarrhoea
•    Diagnostic work-up and use of laboratory tests, imaging and endoscopy.
•    Therapeutic management in early stages

Extraintestinal manifestations of IBD
•    Epidemiology of extra-intestinal manifestations of IBD (PSC, skin, joints)
•    Clinical manifestations and diagnostic strategy
•    Therapeutic considerations with relation to IBD

Therapy update in IBD (in addition for 2020 only)
•    Non-complicated ileal Crohn's disease: biologics or watchful waiting?
•    New options in acute severe ulcerative colitis
•    Perianal Crohn's disease
•    Most promising mechanisms

Alcohol-related liver disease
•    Epidemiology of alcohol-related liver disease
•    Diagnosis and treatment of alcoholic hepatitis
•    Indications for liver transplantation
•    Management of alcohol dependence

Complications of liver cirrhosis
•    Ascites: Diagnostic and therapeutic approach
•    Diagnosis and treatment of hepatic encephalopathy
•    Nutrition and cirrhosis
•    Management of portal hypertension and its complications

Fulminant hepatitis, liver failure and liver transplantation
•    Diagnosis of fulminant liver failure, including differential diagnosis
•    Diagnostic work up for suspected drug induced liver injury (DILI)
•    Non-specific management
•    Transplantation and acute liver failure

Assessment of liver function
•    When to assess liver function
•    What methods are available for liver function assessment
•    How to predict and prevent liver failure prior to major surgery

Diagnostic work-up of a liver nodule
•    Differential diagnosis of liver nodules in the non-cirrhotic and cirrhotic liver
•    Diagnostic management: Imaging modalities and when to obtain tissue
•    Therapeutic management: Surveillance or treatment (except HCC)

NAFLD and NASH
•    Epidemiological concerns regarding NAFLD/NASH
•    How to differentiate from alcohol-related liver disease?
•    Relationship with the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases
•    Risk stratification
•    Therapeutic management

Viral hepatitis
•    The changing epidemiology of viral hepatitis
•    Diagnostic modalities for viral hepatitis
•    Therapeutic management
•    Long-term complications
•    HCV elimination: strategies, micro-elimination and possible target groups

Oesophageal cancer
•    Overview of diagnosis and staging
•    Management of early oesophageal cancer
•    Review the role of radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy

Swallowing disorders: Oropharyngeal dysphagia
•    Causes of oropharyngeal dysphagia, including Zenker diverticulum and cricopharyngeal bar
•    Initial bedside and specialist investigation
•    Diagnostic strategy
•    Treatment of oropharyngeal dysphagia and other symptoms
•    Management of Zenker diverticulum: Endoscopy versus surgery

Benign causes of oesophageal dysphagia
•    Clinical presentation and differential diagnosis of dysphagia
•    Diagnostic modalities for determining diagnosis
•    Therapeutic management of benign oesophageal dysphagia (Eosinophilic oesophagitis, oe-sophageal motility disorders etc.)

Management of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD)
•    Concepts of GORD pathophysiology and diagnostic classification
•    Appropriate use of different modalities for GORD diagnosis (pH-metry, pH-impedance etc.)
•    Pharmacological therapy
•    Non-pharmacological therapy, including endoscopic procedures and surgery

Anorexia and unexplained weight loss
•    Optimal diagnostic work-up for patients with unexplained weight loss because of reduced appetite and oral intake
•    Differentiating between organic causes and food-intake behavioural problems
•    Therapeutic multimodal management

Complications in nutrition and how to avoid them
•    Prevention and treatment of the refeeding syndrome
•    Complications of enteral access insertion (gastrostomy, jejunostomy, etc.) and enteral nutrition
•    Complications of home parenteral nutrition

Diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition
•    Definition and criteria of malnutrition
•    Tools for sarcopenia assessment
•    Identifying which patient is at risk
•    Artificial nutrition (enteral and parenteral): Indications and modalities of administration
•    Ethical considerations regarding artificial nutrition

Autoimmune pancreatitis
•    Epidemiology, clinical presentation and subtypes of auto-immune pancreatitis
•    Diagnostic work-up and differential diagnosis with pancreatic cancer
•    Current treatment options
•    lgG4 related disease and associated disorders

Chronic pancreatitis
•    Pathophysiological mechanisms
•    Clinical aspects of chronic pancreatitis, including etiological factors, symptoms and compli-cations
•    Therapeutic management strategy: Medical management, endoscopy and surgery

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours
•    Clinical spectrum of P-NETs
•    Diagnostic work-up
•    Curative, symptomatic and palliative therapeutic algorithm

Severe acute pancreatitis: Initial management and complications
•    Optimal management of severe acute necrotizing pancreatitis
•    Clinical and imaging aspects of pancreatic collections
•    Indications, timing, therapeutic modalities for drainage (surgical, endoscopic, radiological)

Management of acute pancreatitis
•    How to stage severity in acute pancreatitis
•    Determination of aetiology
•    Initial management: Hydration, antibiotics or not, nutrition, ERCP for biliary acute pancreatitis
•    Work-up for recurrent acute pancreatitis

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma
•    Diagnostic work-up and pitfalls of available diagnostic modalities
•    Therapeutic management: chemotherapy and surgery, including management of elderly pa-tients
•    Palliation: The role of endoscopy, nutrition and pain management

Obstruction and ileus
•    Aetiology and investigation of ileus, ischaemia and obstruction
•    Management of ileus
•    Surgical and endoscopic management of acute intestinal obstruction
•    Management of chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction and other similar disorders
•    Palliation for malignant small and large bowel obstruction

Small bowel tumours
•    Clinical symptoms and diagnostic work-up
•    Overview of differential diagnosis, including neuroendocrine tumours
•    Therapeutic management

Chronic intestinal failure
•    Causes of chronic intestinal failure
•    Short and long-term complications of chronic intestinal failure
•    Management of chronic intestinal failure: Total parenteral nutrition and beyond (including transplantation)

Coeliac disease
•    Coeliac disease: Epidemiology, diagnosis and therapeutic management
•    How to differentiate between coeliac disease, eosinophilic gastroenteritis, food allergies, non-coeliac gluten sensitivity and IBS
•    Refractory coeliac disease

Gastric polyps and submucosal lesions
•    Clinical, endoscopic and histopathological features of gastric polyps and submucosal lesions
•    Possible syndromes that might be associated with gastric polyps
•    Therapeutic management

Peptic ulcer disease
•    Epidemiology and incidence of peptic ulcer disease
•    Management of gastric ulcer
•    Investigation of suspected duodenal ulcer
•    H. pylori testing or prompt endoscopy?
•    Complications of peptic ulcer disease
•    Peptic ulcer disease and NSAID’s, including other aetiologies such as ischemia, chemotherapy and polymedication

Dyspepsia and gastroparesis
•    Definition and differential diagnosis of nausea and vomiting
•    Use of diagnostic tests such as imaging procedures and gastric emptying time
•    Pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapy for gastroparesis
•    Management of functional dyspepsia

H. pylori
•    Epidemiology and consequences of H. pylori infection
•    Available diagnostic modalities and their pitfalls
•    Effects on H. pylori infection on other organs and diseases
•    Eradication schemes and treatment resistance

Upper GI bleeding
•    Clinical assessment, investigation and therapy for acute upper GI bleeding, including special requirements for elderly patients
•    Management of patients on anticoagulant and anti-platelet therapy, both in the acute situation and before scheduled diagnostic or therapeutic endoscopy

The upcoming topic and learning objectives will be determined annually by the UEG Scientific Committee.

The upcoming topic and learning objectives will be determined annually by the UEG Scientific Committee.