This year, Richard Brady will chair the IBD session at ESCP Virtually Vilnius 2020. We asked him about the great line-up of world class speakers that are in store for our delegates this September at #ESCP2020.
Richard Brady is the chair of the ESCP communications community, and lead IBD surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Newcastle, UK. His main clinical and research interests include Medtech applications in surgery and outcomes in IBD surgery. He said:
“I am excited to be introducing the inflammatory bowel disease session at Virtually Vilnius. This session has everything, from core subject updates on perianal Crohn's disease, to super-specialist talks on ongoing IBD related research, interactions with gastroenterology, contemporary techniques and updates on advanced operative choices. This will be a valuable educational session for any surgeon and I am delighted to be chairing a session filled with such a diverse and high quality calibre of speakers from across Europe.”
Why is IBD an important topic?
IBD typically affects 5 million people worldwide with almost 1-2% of adults affected in Western countries, and whilst most people are diagnosed before the age of 35, there is increasing incidence amongst certain ages groups. The early diagnosis, timing and choice of treatment in IBD is critical to avoiding long-term morbidity and poor quality of life. Treatment options for IBD are some of the most intensely researched and fast-changing areas of medicine, and developments in advanced surgical techniques have transformed and multiplied the options available for the surgical management of this condition.
IBD patients comprise a major component of work across the entire spectrum of our speciality, from proctology, to endoscopy, to all interventional options in surgery. Indeed there are now so many options emerging, that IBD management is one the most complex, exciting and innovative areas of colorectal surgery. This section of Virtually Vilnius is therefore a must for the contemporary European coloproctologist, to ensure they have the up-to-date knowledge available to make sensible, appropriate and evidence based decisions.
What are the key topics or themes you hope the session will touch on?
The audience should leave with an appropriate appreciation of contemporary surgical management of IBD and its critical multidisciplinary basis.
We have a update on the ESCP 2019 multicentre international audit relating to management of from Matteo Frasson (Spain), describing the variability of medical and surgical management of acute severe ulcerative colitis and determine its impact on patient level outcomes. The study aimed to predict the parameters which predict which patients may benefit from medical salvage therapy and those likely to require colectomy.
There are fantastic talks from Antonino Spinelli (Italy) on the multidisciplinary aspects of ileo-colic Crohn’s resection, Christianne Buskens (The Netherlands) will describe the importance of surgical techniques in modifying the course of IBD and Caroline Nordenvall (Sweden) will describe the CRUISE study, and the issues surrounding the choice of IRA and IPAA for ulcerative colitis.
Also on Monday afternoon, look out for excellent training, instruction and technical videos by European leaders in these techniques, on the continent Koch pouch with Gabriela Möslein (Germany) and the transanal advancement flap with David Zimmerman (The Netherlands). We are also looking forward to a great panel session to discuss in details the session’s content.
What do you hope delegates will take away/get out of the session?
I hope that delegates will leave the session enlightened about the changing practice and progressive knowledge base in IBD surgery and enjoy the highest quality education and interaction with true leaders in their fields. Updating our knowledge is vital as we hopefully start to emerge from the pandemic crisis of 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has particularly challenged anyone involved in the management of IBD patients. Isolation, social distancing and disruption to routine management has devastated the finely balanced multi-disciplinary and responsive management of many IBD patients and their variable and chronic condition. Confusion in the early days surrounding the risks of medical therapy in association with COVID-19 led to many patients either stopping medications or delaying the start of medial therapy. As they were deemed not so urgent, many patients have also had their operative management delayed or put on hold for many months, leading to more emergent and advanced IBD presentations. Many IBD patients have been shielding from their normal social and medical support mechanisms for many months and only now are our services realising the true secondary and morbid impact of COVID-19 on these patients and service start to recover.
Richard is chairing the IBD session at ESCP Virtually Vilnius 2020 from 16.10 on Monday 21 September. Register your place for FREE here.
