Advancing the Practice of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Through Research

The overarching mission of ESGE is to educate, innovate, disseminate, support, and promote quality in the practice of gastrointestinal endoscopy. One of the ways to achieve these objectives is to promote high quality endoscopy research. The ESGE Research Committee was founded in 2000 with the aim of promoting and endorsing high quality research in endoscopy, directly fund meritorious research projects, attract industry funding for themed research ideas, and actively teach and promote core principles of clinical investigation.

The Chair of the ESGE Research Committee has been held by several internationally recognized endoscopy investigators including Prof. Thierry Ponchon (France) 2000 to 2008, Prof. Soeren Meisner (Denmark) 2008–2012, Prof. Colin Rees (UK) 2012–2016, Prof. Rodrigo Jover (Spain) 2016–2018, Prof. Pradeep Bhandari (UK) 2018 to 2022 and currently, Prof. Lorenzo Fuccio (Italy).

Endoscopy is a device and technique driven field. One of the advantages of this is that, unlike pharmacological agents, techniques do not require a formal approval process and traditionally, device approvals have not required robust human data so the lag time between developing a new device/technique to its incorporation into practice has been short. However, the downside of this is premature introduction of novel devices and techniques into mass practice without high quality data. This can lead to a lack of understanding as to the exact benefit/harm related to these new devices/techniques.

The Research Committee is currently composed of more than 20 young researchers, with a diverse representation from male and female endoscopists from all over Europe. The aim of this committee is to regularly review new endoscopic developments, devices and techniques and help ESGE design and set up research priorities for the future. ESGE believes that setting up endoscopy research priorities has multi-faceted benefits ranging from guiding young researchers to identify areas of research interest, helping various funding bodies within the EU to prioritize research funding, and assists ESGE to prioritize research grants for funding. The first ESGE research priorities document was published in 2016 and had twenty-six research priorities under seven domains. In 2022, this was reviewed, revised and updated by a panel of experts from the ESGE research committee. This was published in 2022 and reflects the fact that the ESGE research committee constantly monitors and revises research priorities to make sure that they are up-to-date and relevant to current endoscopy practices and technology development [1] [2].

Young researchers in endoscopy have always had more difficulties in accessing funding for research projects. Therefore, since 2010, ESGE has awarded funding for high quality endoscopic research projects. Recently, the awarding of research grants has been transformed into an open and exciting competition (The ESGE Research Champion’s Den Competition) in which 10 young competitors, selected each year by the Research committee based on the quality of their submitted research projects, are invited to make a live pitch for their research project to a panel of experienced and academic endoscopists at ESGE Days ([Fig. 1], [Fig. 2]). The competitors receive critical comments, questions, and feedback from the expert review panel before winners are decided and awarded 10,000 EUR each. The Champion’s Den is run in an open and transparent way, which has resulted in a big surge in applications for ESGE research grants. In the last two years, ESGE research grants have been awarded to a wide range of young colleagues from Spain, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, and France.

Fig. 1 Competitors and pannelists at ESGE Research Champion’s Den , ESGE days 2022, Prague

Fig. 2 Competitors and pannelists at ESGE Research Champion’s Den , ESGE days 2023, Dublin

Over the past 10 years ESGE is proud to have funded more than 40 research projects totaling more than 360,000 EUR, thus contributing to over 10 publications in international journals. In addition to the funds directly provided by the ESGE, several industry partners (i. e., Medtronic, Covidien, Norgine, and Given Imaging) have graciously supported our idea of granting young researchers in endoscopy.

Last, the ESGE Research committee has recently introduced a new initiative. Publication of Techniques and Technology Review articles. These are state-of-the art reviews of current novel techniques & technologies with practical tips from renowned experts. We recently published a comprehensive review on endoscopic submucosal dissection techniques [3], and several other publications are planned for the coming two years including Artificial Intelligence, topical hemostatic agents, single use endoscopes, trans-nasal endoscopes, and EUS guided tissue acquisition devices.

During the next ESGE Days held in Berlin in 2024, the Research Committee will celebrate almost 25 years of activity and will be continuing to focus on improving the quality of endoscopic research and creating an environment which encourages young endoscopists and industry to engage in high quality research for the benefit of our patients.

Publication History

Article published online:
28 February 2024

• References

• 1 Bhandari P, Longcroft-Wheaton G. et al. Revising the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) research priorities: a research progress update. Endoscopy 2021; 53: 535-554
• 2 Rees CJ, Ngu WS, Regula J. et al. European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy – Establishing the key unanswered research questions within gastrointestinal endoscopy. Endoscopy 2016; 48: 884-891
• 3 Libânio D, Pimentel-Nunes P, Bastiaansen B. et al. Endoscopic submucosal dissection techniques and technology: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Technical Review. Endoscopy 2023; 55: 361-389