Pan American Week of Gastroenterology 2023

The “Pan American Week of Gastroenterology” is a great scientific event that brings together the countries of North, Central and South America and that in October of this year will be held between October 8 and 11 in Santiago de Chile. Traditionally it was held biannually, but due to the pandemic it has not been held for several years. The organization of the event includes the participation of the Pan American Gastroenterology Organization (OPGE), the Inter-American Endoscopy Society (SIED) and the Gastroenterology Society of the host country, this year corresponding to the Chilean Gastroenterology Society.

In the words of Dr. Juan Pablo Roblero, “In this Pan-American Week we will have more than 120 invited speakers, from the region and also from Europe and Asia. We expect an attendance of more than 2000 people and the presentation of a large number of scientific papers “.
On Saturday, October 7, we will have a Postgraduate course, a pre-congress on Endoscopy and another pre-congress course on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Both will have outstanding teachers.

“During the scientific event, the different topics of gastroenterology will be addressed, such as the different endoscopic procedures, their new applications and lines of development. In addition, there will be endoscopy workshops, analysis and discussion of videos of endoscopic procedures”, says the specialist .

Likewise, the meeting will have the participation of prominent speakers who will update the audience on the study and treatment of pancreatic and liver diseases, functional digestive disorders, inflammatory bowel diseases, Helicobacter pylori and gastric cancer, celiac disease, nutrition, digestive oncological diseases. , imaging, gastroenterology in pediatrics and numerous topics that will be covered through conferences, symposiums and lunches with the professor.

In addition, there will be conferences and activities aimed especially at nurses working in the area of gastroenterology and also activities organized by and for paramedical technologists working in these areas.

For his part, Dr. Alex Navarro commented that in the Pan American Week of Digestive Diseases, the conferences are oriented towards updating concepts, both in the diagnostic field and in the treatment of prevalent pathologies. In our region, Helicobacter pylori and gastric cancer are of high interest.

“We will have a plenary session aimed at discussing the relevant topics of the Maastricht Consensus on the management of Helicobacter pylori Infection. Other notable topics to mention are the advances in the global registry of Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium genome project and the antibiotic resistance studies that lead to new therapeutic regimens,” he specified.

Regarding gastric cancer, the specialist points out that it is important to highlight conferences aimed at the current epidemiological situation, pathophysiological mechanisms of carcinogenesis, genetic studies and biomarkers that affect treatment results. In these topics, we will have outstanding speakers, whose relevance and related publications is indisputable. We can mention, for example, Dr. Peter Malfertheiner, Dr. Constanza Camargo, Dr. Leticia Moreira, Dr. Robert Huang, Dr. Richard Peek, Dr. Douglas Morgan, Dr. Massimo Rugge, among others.

Within the framework of the OPGE assembly, during the course of DDW in May 2023, the presidents / representatives of Latin American Gastroenterology Societies were exposed to the outstanding aspects of the topics and exhibitors, arousing immediate interest. We are currently reinforcing the dissemination of topics and exhibitors at the Latin American level, inviting everyone to participate in this great scientific event.

New in the Celiac Disease and Small Intestine module

The activities related to celiac disease (CD) will have great relevance in the Pan American Week of Digestive Diseases (SPED), an instance in which various aspects will be analyzed by continental and international references.

In the opinion of Dr. Edgardo Smecuol, executive secretary of OPGE, “SPED will have the presence of Prof. Riccardo Troncone (Italy) who served as President of the last “International Celiac Disease Symposium” held in Sorrento (Italy) in October 2022, who will refer in his conferences to all the novelties that arose in said event.Another important international figure in the matter will also be present, such as Prof. Julio C. Bai (Argentina), a relevant researcher in celiac disease, who has developed numerous lines of research that marked milestones in the knowledge of the disease”.

The module will also include interesting topics to be developed, such as the different clinical aspects of this entity, with special emphasis on the numerous extraintestinal manifestations of CD and a highly topical situation such as the adherence of many patients to a gluten-free diet, despite not having an appropriate diagnosis, impairing an adequate identification of the disease.

“During SPED, new developments related to CD-associated blood markers will also be discussed, which have undergone notable progress in recent years; thus, at the event we will see the bases that have led to considering the possibility of diagnosing CD without perform the “classic” intestinal biopsy, using exclusively specific antibodies.
Other novelties of great significance will be presented by Prof. Elena Verdú (Mc Master University, Canada), an international reference in the knowledge of the intestinal microbiota, who will address the influence of the microbiome on the pathophysiology of CD and the potential use of probiotics in the treatment,” Smecuol said.

In the specialist’s opinion, there is widespread concern about the follow-up of celiac patients and about compliance with a gluten-free diet, a challenging situation in clinical practice. In this sense, SPED will be the area in which an update is offered on how to identify adherence and transgressions, particularly from the recent incorporation into clinical practice of determining the presence of immunogenic gliadin peptides (GIP) in urine or feces of patients.

The management of patients with persistent or refractory symptoms is another highly topical topic and will also be addressed in SPED, together with the numerous drug proposals under development for the treatment of these severe CD complications. In summary, everything of importance and current affairs related to celiac disease will have its place in the symposia dedicated to this important pathology at SPED.

News of the Neurogastroenterology module

The neurogastroenterology module has the participation of two large groups, on the one hand the Roma Foundation and on the other the Latin American Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility.
In the opinion of Dr. Claudia Defilippi, President of the Chilean Society of Gastroenterology (host country), “Fundación Roma will have three different symposiums where the doctor-patient relationship will be delved into, interviews, the vision of both the clinician and the patient, as well of the discussion of clinical cases. This is something very practical that has the objective of improving our skills and leaving with concrete knowledge after the talks. Likewise, we will also have the participation of their world expert in gastroesophageal reflux disease, such as the Dr Daniel Sifrim, who will develop the topic of refractory reflux, how to manage and treat it, along with keynote talks and clinical cases.”

For his part, Dr. Hugo Monrroy added that: “From the SLNG a broad varnish will be made on the prevalent pathology and from the Roma Foundation topics will be added from the perspective of the patient. The modules where Dr. Sifrim will participate will be mainly focused to esophageal pathology. There is great expectation among national and international residents, gastroenterologists, and neurogastroenterologists, due to the importance of the issues to be addressed by world leaders in the area.”

To close the module, the specialist highlights the block of the Latin American Neurogastro Society, in which different topics such as irritable bowel syndrome, functional dyspepsia, microbiota and news from the latest Ascona 2023 motility meeting will be addressed.

“Until now, the reception from the medical audience has been excellent, arousing high expectations, especially due to the quality and experience of the international guests and the large number of talks that cover all the topics of neurogastroenterology. Although they are topics specific to the area, the idea is to provide an updated view of different topics that is useful to adult and pediatric gastroenterologists,” Defilippi said.

For the host authority of SPED 2023, among its main news stands out: Dr. Daniel Sifrim, an expert in reflux disease, who will surely shed light on the new Lyon 2 consensus that is in development and will comment on the news of Ascona III, where a new technique to evaluate gastric electrical activity called Gastric Alimetry and the usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the functionality and motility of the digestive tract were studied in depth. And undoubtedly, having the participation of doctors Douglas Drossman, Lin Chang and Max Schmulson from Fundación Roma will be an enormous privilege for those attending the meeting.

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Module

The Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) block will feature internationally renowned guests, including Dr. Croitoru, Dr. Charabaty and Dr. Kotze, all leaders in inflammatory disease research and development, who will present talks plenary sessions and will participate in specialty modules. “In addition, we will have two modules from PANCCO, the Pan American Organization for Inflammatory Disease, with exponents from Latin America,” said Dr. Carolina Pavez.

This module aims to be a great event to share, update and generate collaborative work networks. The program includes a diverse thematic guideline among which stand out: Amerindian genes in IBD, pregnancy and IBD, biological treatments, surgical approach in Crohn’s Disease, among others.