Celiac disease is the focus of a worldwide meeting going on now in Prague. The 16th International Celiac Disease Symposium opened with two forums—one for scientists and physicians and another for patients.
Prevention of celiac disease, progression in therapies in addition to the gluten-free diet and the optimal gluten-free diet are among the topics that will be covered in the patient sessions. Bone alterations, malignancies, gluten sensitivity and the FOPMAP diet will also be discussed.
Meanwhile, international celiac disease experts have gathered to discuss epidemiology, diagnosis, genetics, prevention and screening, new treatments, mucosal healing and complications, refractory celiac disease and malignancies and more.
You can follow news from the symposium on Twitter under the hashtag #ICDS2015.
“Symposia have always attracted all those who are fascinated by this disease and give their best to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying disease development and finding ways to improve diagnostics procedure, and nowadays, even come up with novel therapeutic options,” said Frits Koning, president of the International Society of the Study of Celiac Disease.
He noted that a lot has been learned about celiac disease since the first symposium, with a tradition of the free exchange of ideas, data and “sometimes heated discussion” contributing to the advance in knowledge.
“As always, an important mission of the meeting is to stimulate young researchers in their effort to further extend the frontiers of our knowledge of coeliac disease,” Julius Špičak, chairman of the local organizing committee, said in his welcome message.
A number of researchers will present posters on their work, including a study of gluten contamination of commercial spices in the United States by the Gluten Intolerance Group. Other topics include the gluten content of wheat starch, growing worldwide incidence of celiac disease, psychological manifestations of celiac disease in young children and optimizing behavioral health in adolescents with celiac disease.
The 192 posters being presented cover 13 general topics. Gluten sensitivity is among them, including a look at gluten-free diet adherence in patients with celiac disease and those with gluten sensitivity.
Celiac disease centers from across the United States are well represented at the symposium, including the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment at Mass General Hospital for Children and the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. You’ll find more information on the symposium here.
The previous celiac disease symposium was held in Chicago and hosted by the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center in 2013.
