Report on 2nd ECTA congress

ECTA scored another big event in its young history. This time Asia was the host and the marvelous environment of Singapore did its best to encourage the discussions and the presentation of up-to-date information at the congress venue. Raffles City with its modern and wide spaces including more than one hundred shops and restaurants gave hospitality to more than 700 delegates from all over the world. Professor SeowChoen made sure the congress was outstandingly organized and included many social events in order to foster friendship and collaboration among speakers, chairmen, delegates, and trainees. Chicken rice, chili crab dishes, sticky weather and Singapore kindness will become unforgettable memories for many coloproctologists. The congress started with an interesting course dedicated to all the modern techniques involving ultrasound imaging and the clinical results in patients with benign and malignant disease. During the congress, many topics were covered by brilliant speakers from many countries. The surgical treatment for diverticulitis is still a matter of debate, even if less invasive modalities such as laparoscopic lavage and postponed resection instead of immediate resection with ostomy are gaining much more consensus among the experts. Professor Tsarkov gave a brilliant lecture on this topic that addressed all the aspects of the clinical problem. Colorectal cancer still represents the main topic for coloproctologists, and the excellent results of treatment for early stage disease were stressed by surgeons from the Far East particularly from the Japanese school represented by Professor Fujishiro, University of Tokyo. Japanese are considered worldwide to be pioneers in the early detection and treatment for colorectal cancer. The video session symposium gave the opportunity to show the latest developments. The transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) technique has been proposed for the treatment for T2 rectal lesions with no evidence of lymph node metastasis and negative preoperative staging, even if the limits of the technique seem relevant when dealing with more extensive lesions. The topic of hemorrhoids which always captures the attention of the audience and predictably led to open debate. Professor Reboa from Italy presented the results of a clinical trial on the treatment for hemorrhoids comparing many techniques. The last day of the congress was dedicated to an interesting symposium in colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) which may become the treatment of choice for the early colorectal cancer. Impressive speakers, mainly from the Far East, provided new highlights on this topic showing us as the latest advances in endoscopic treatment. The opportunity to suture the endoscopic defect seems to open up the possibility of a transmural endoscopic resection of the intestinal wall. The session was held in Northern General Hospital in Singapore and was held by the local committee which kindly introduced the well organized and high technological hospital. They organized a hands-on session on ESD, with the collaboration of the Olympus and Erbe companies, which was attended by many congress participants. In 2015, Moscow will host the third ECTA congress that will cover many other interesting topics and we really suggest you attend, just to breath once again the wonderful atmosphere of a global congress with many enthusiastic colleagues from all over the world. A. Trecca (&) L. C. Pescatori Digestive Endoscopy, Uego fdg Usi Group Rome, Via Virginio Orsini, 18, 00185 Rome, Italy e-mail: treccanto@gmail.com