ESGE Newsletter

ESGE sponsored meeting Yaroslavl, Russia
July 1 – 2, 2010

Church of Elijah, the Prophet, opposite the conference venue.

The ESGE sponsored Endoscopy Workshop took place in Yaroslavl (Russia) on July the 1^st and 2^nd, 2010. This was the first time that an official ESGE activity was organized in Russia, and it could not have been more successful. The event had been very well prepared in all the details by the local organizing committee chaired by Dr Serghey Kashin with the support of the local administrative powers, both political and academic. On the other hand, ESGE and ESGENA together with the official technical sponsors Olympus and Cook Endoscopy gave, once again, the proof of a perfect symbiotic organizing effort leading to a great success. More than 350 doctors coming from all over Russia, but also from several surrounding countries attended the meeting, together with more than 60 nurses. The program, as usual, comprehended both state of the art lectures and live demonstrations broadcasted to the beautiful Auditorium of the House of the Government of the Yaroslavl Region from the state-of-the-art equipped Endoscopy Unit of the Oncological Centre of Yaroslavl, directed by Dr. Kashin. Six ESGE experts, Guido Costamagna (Italy) (who was also Co-Director of the Workshop together with Boris Poddubny, President of the Russian Society of Digestive Endoscopy), Hans-Dieter Allescher (Germany), Thierry Ponchon (France), Olivier Le Moine (Belgium), Stefan Seewald (Switzerland) and Hiroshi Kashida (Japan) with the excellent assistance of 4 ESGENA experts (Michael Ortmann – Switzerland, Sylvia Lahey – The Netherlands, Jadranka Brljak – Croatia, and Herta Pomper – Austria) and the indispensable help of Russian doctors and nurses were able to treat more than twenty five patients during the live sessions. Several endoscopic diagnostic and therapeutic techniques were demonstrated: EMR and ESD and ploypectomy in the upper and lower GI tract, single-balloon enteroscopy, EUS-guided FNA and pancreatic cyst drainage, esophageal stent placement, biliary stones removal, stenting of the bile duct, etc. The technical support of Olympus and Cook Endoscopy has been, as usual, of paramount importance for the smooth progress of the program. Parallel to the main session, there were special sessions dedicated to nurses, both theoretical and practical (hands-on). In particular, the hands-on training which was very much appreciated by the attendees, has been realized thanks to the enormous effort put in this activity by the team of Olympus Europe.

As a proof of the continuous interest kept by the audience, the conference hall was filled up until the last hour of the program!

Festive reception for all participants at the Governor's house.

International and local faculty, organizers and corporate sponsors at the workshop venue, the government building of Yaroslavl region.

To complete the success, it must be said that an excellent social program had also been accurately organized in order to discover during the free time this very nice, charming, very old (1000 years!) city (700 000 inhabitants) on the beautiful river Volga.

I am sure that everybody who participated in the Workshop left Yaroslavl with the secret hope to come back again for another edition.