Letter from the Editor

Dear Reader,

The management of IBD is dramatically changing in the last years mainly because of the availability of new treatments. At the 14^th ECCO Congress we have seen the long-term results of many of those such as ustekinumab (for UC), vedolizumab, and tofacitinib. Also, results of newer compounds such as Pan-Janus kinase inhibitor TD-1473, etrasimod, mirikizumab, and upadacitinib, amongst others. Importantly, the results from the VARSITY trial were presented, the first head-to-head trial with biologicals in IBD.

Together with the clinical trials, the scientific community is making a great effort in order to optimize our strategies of managing IBD. An excellent example is the CALM study, demonstrating that T2T does have an impact on the outcome of the disease (in this case for CD). Similar studies are urgently needed, since properly using the treatments we have is as important as developing new ones.

In addition, the physiopathology and genetics of IBD remain a research challenge and the role of microbiota is in this context a hot topic, including interesting new studies. The glycans as novel immunomodulators of T cell-mediated immune response were also presented with promising results. Finally, the results of a new topical review focused on complementary and alternative medicine were also presented.

In sum, the variety and quality of abstracts presented was excellent and in the present report you can find an accurate selection of them.

Best regards,

Triana Lobatón

Biography

Triana Lobatón works as a full-time gastroenterologist at the IBD Unit of the Department of Gastroenterology at Ghent University Hospital (Belgium). She finished her training as gastroenterologist at Bellvitge University Hospital (Barcelona, Spain). During her training, she spent 2 moths (in 2010) at Mount Sinai University Hospital in NY (US). She obtained her PhD at the University of Barcelona in 2015. As part of her PhD program, she spent 18 months (2013-2014) at Leuven University Hospital (Belgium)under the supervision of Prof. Séverine Vermeire. Her clinical activity and research is focused on IBD, in particular clinical projects. She has been coordinator of the young GETECCU (Spanish group of Crohn and Colitis), and is also involved in several ECCO activities such as the e-courses.



Posted on 9 May 201916 March 2021