Recent Advances in the Management of Gastrointestinal Disease

Interdisciplinary sessions at the recent United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week, held in Vienna, Austria, from 8th to 11th October 2022, covered new approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal and hepatic disorders, with a focus on advances in the non-invasive management of these diseases. Abstract-based and poster sessions presented original research from Europe and other parts of the world. This review summarises selected data presented in the fields of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), disorders of gut–brain interaction (DGBI), gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), and disorders of the pancreas. Previously termed functional gastrointestinal disorders, the Rome Foundation is gradually moving toward the use of DGBI in place of functional gastrointestinal disorders to avoid stigma. Cristina Rubín de Célix, Gastroenterology Department, Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Princesa (IIS-Princesa), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Spain, described a systematic review and meta-analysis of real-world evidence for ustekinumab in the treatment of Crohn’s disease. Regarding irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Salvatore Crucillà, Gastroenterology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, Italy, showed that following a Mediterranean diet resulted in symptom improvement and faecal microbiota changes in patients with constipation-predominant IBS. Fiona Kinnear, Novozymes A/S, Cork, Ireland, reported patients’ experiences of probiotics for IBS. Tatyana Kugler, Department of Internal Medicine, Donetsk National Medical University, Ukraine, discussed quality of life (QoL) in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD), and Ayesha Shah, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, and Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, considered the impact of a diagnosis of more than one DGBI. James White, Medscape Global Education, London, UK, considered the impact of continuing medical education (CME) on confidence in the management of GORD. Additionally, Peter Macinga, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czechia, provided evidence that chronic pancreatitis is associated with an alteration in the gut microbiota, and Joakim Svahn, Viatris AB, Stockholm, Sweden, described the use of a patient support programme (PSP) in patients prescribed pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) for pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI).