Annual Meeting: DGNM online
Sixty-three participants from different disciplines joined the 28th annual meeting of the German Society of Neurogastronenterology and Motility (DGNM) from March 6th to 7th, 2021. Because of ongoing restrictions due to the SARS-COV2 pandemic, the meeting took place online.
During the 28th anniversary meeting, 31 talks were given in eight sessions. These were dedicated to basic and translational science (Translational: secretion, inflammation, nutrition, gut-brain-axis / Translational: inflammation, ENS / Basic: ENS, visceral hypersensitivity / Translational: pancreas, IBD, inflammation / Clinical and Basic: Motility, IBS, Hirschsprung’s disease) and clinical science (motor disorders and functional GI diseases, nutrition, microbiome) and were given by mainly youngsters who reported on their ongoing projects. A further focus of the meeting was on the future of Neurogastroenterology in Germany within the session Training and young talents, where a controversial discussion took place on improved implementation and representation of Neurogastroenterological subjects in the new medical curriculum in Germany. The establishment of working groups was suggested in order to generate material on important Neurogastroenterological topics and diseases for student education and examination. Additional possibilities for promotion of young talents in the DGNM were presented.
Saturday noon Andreas Michalsen from Berlin gave a state of the art lecture on Neuropathic options for functional gastrointestinal disorders within the new format Lüderitz Lecture dedicated to the German pioneer in Neurogastroenterology Carl Lüderitz. Paul Enck later gave an Honorary Lecture on the occasion of receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award of theNeurogastroenterology Foundation in 2020.
At the general assembly after dinner on Saturday evening, members of the society were updated on the activities of the national and international societies. In particular, alterations of timelines and meeting formats due to the pandemic situation were presented. Andreas Stengel was elected as the new president of the German Society for Neurogastroenterology and Motility. Robert Patejdl will serve as vice president, and Jutta Keller was suggested as the new German representative in the Steering Committee of the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility. Furthermore, working group leaders for improvement of teaching (Robert Patejdl), young academics (Ekin Demir) and digital future (Peter Neckel) of Neurogastroenterology were elected.
Melanie Scharr from Tübingen was awarded with a Martin Wienbeck Travel Grant.
Following another session with scientific presentations, four lectures on clinical Neurogastroenterology were presented on Sunday. These covered up-to-date information on motility disorders, reflux disease, irritable bowel syndrome and constipation. The final session of the meeting was an update on the gut microbiome discussing the effects of stress and hypnotherapy, the available evidence for the use of fecal microbiome transfer and the interactions between nutrition and microbiome. The next meeting will take place in February, 25-27, 2022.
J. Keller, March 2021