World pancreatology news (based on the joint meeting of the European Pancreatic Club and the Latin-American Pancreatic Study Group, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, June 26–29, 2024). Part 1. Therapeutic aspects
Authors: Gubergrits N. B. , Mozhyna T. L. , Byelyayeva N. V. 
Published: December 2024

The 56th meeting of the European Pancreatic Club took place in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) on June 26–29, 2024. The eminent pancreatologist Professor J. Enrique Domínguez-Muñoz was the President of the Congress. The meeting got 21 abstracts from Ukraine, all of which received acceptance and will appear in the Pancreatology journal. Twelve doctors from Ukraine (Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Vinnytsia) attended the meeting. Our Club members from Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Georgia also arrived. The most important event was the adoption of the “European guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (EPI): UEG, EPC, EDS, ESPEN, ESPGHAN, ESDO, and ESPCG recommendations.” The European Pancreatic Club meeting featured a number of papers that focused on PEI. The study “Optimal dose of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for PEI in various pancreatic diseases: results of the European PEI registry” stands out as one of the most significant. The study was conducted under the supervision of Professor J. Enrique Domínguez-Muñoz (Spain). Pancreatologists from Spain, Hungary, Italy, France, and Great Britain participated in compiling the registry. Expert pancreatology centers contributed to the creation of a prospective multicenter European PEI registry.
Djuna L. Cahen (Netherlands) gave a lecture on PEI in patients with diabetes. ERT is important for preventing diabetes complications (osteoporosis, reducing pancreatic cancer, cardiovascular risk).
Under the supervision of Miroslav Vujasinovic (Sweden), a systematic review and meta-analysis of “Prevalence of PEI and ERT in diabetes” yielded important results for science and practice. Studies concerning the diagnostic capabilities of endosonography in pancreatic pathology, especially in chronic pancreatitis (CP), received particular attention.
Miroslav Vujasinovic (Sweden) presented modern data on the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and diagnostics of non-alcoholic fatty pancreatic disease in his lecture. Even though a lot of research has been done on this topic, non-alcoholic fatty pancreatic disease is still a “mystery” for pancreatologists. This is because important issues like a unified nomenclature, accurate information on prevalence, optimal biomarkers and diagnostic criteria, including the disease in the International Classification of Diseases, establishing clinical significance, and treatment are still not clear-cut and up for debate.

Dominguez-Novoa et al. (Spain) conducted a series of studies. The study, “Long-term dynamics of exocrine and endocrine functions of the pancreas in early CP and factors influencing this dynamics”, yielded significant findings. Interestingly, smoking was the primary factor in PEI progression. Matteo Piciucchi et al. (Italy) presented data from the Italian CP registry (ITA RECIPE) and preliminary results of a prospective nationwide cohort study in which 50 centers participated.