Euroson School and consensus meeting in Gastrointestinal Ultrasound (GIUS) Gargnano, Italy, April 21-23

The European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB) arranged for the first time a Euroson School dedicated to ultrasound of the intestines. The location of the course was the small, picturesque town of Gargnano by Lake Garda in Italy. Approximately 60 participants from several European countries as well as Asia and North America participated. The course directors were Giovanni Maconi (Italy) and Odd Helge Gilja (Norway).

Gastrointestinal ultrasound (GIUS) has for many years been advocated as a useful tool for assessing acute and chronic gastrointestinal diseases, but is still not a part of daily clinical practice in many hospitals. This could probably be explained by the general view amongst clinicians that this is a highly specialized field of ultrasonography for experts only – although the course organizers stated this to be incorrect.

The course Directors Giovanni Maconi (Milan) and Odd Helge Gilja (Bergen) present the program and GIUS concept at the opening of the course.

One of the aims of this course was to present and discuss suggestions for a standardization of examination methods and scoring systems for separating normal from abnormal intestinal ultrasound findings. The many lecturers from all over Europe were all experts in different fields of GIUS; giving a thorough and broad introduction to the field, with many clinical examples and didactic ultrasound videos.

Elastography, particularly its ability to distinguish fibrosis from active intestinal inflammation, and Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) was also covered; the latter being useful in diagnosing inflammatory processes, abscesses, and the route of fistulas. Of course, endoscopic ultrasound and the feasibility of Doppler in diagnostics were also covered; the latter useful in diagnosing active intestinal wall inflammation as vascularity increases. Another highlight was the long sessions of hands-on training on patients in small groups, getting real “first-hand-experience” with the tool and the topic, being taught by the foremost experts in Europe.

Dr. Kim Nylund (Bergen) is demonstarting bowel ultrasound on a patient with IBD at the hands-on session.

Just after the course experts from all over Europe sat down to discuss new EFSUMB guidelines on GIUS. A Task force group is working to establish new clinical recommendations within various fields of gastrointestinal ultrasound. At the upcoming EUROSON in Leipzig there will be a special session on GIUS covering many important aspects of methodology and clinical applications.

Eline Lundekvam Storlid, Odd Helge Gilja