Report on 3rd National Congress

It is not an easy task to tell about the SICCR third national congress which took place from the 5th to the 7th of October in Catania and which reunited more than 300 participants.
In particular for two reasons; firstly for the abundance of interventions, contents and proposals and secondly for the enthusiasm of the result obtained, thanks to the persistent effort of all those who firmly believed in achieving this result and therefore have worked very hard for the past two years.

Let’s begin with the figures; 300 participants, a faculty with the most authoritative names in Italian colorectal surgery and 5 prestigious foreign guests of fame, Ronan 0’ Connell, John Nicholls, Thomas Scricka, Bruce wolff and Andrew Zbar.
The scientific sessions organized in collaboration with gastroenterologists and urogynaecologists was of great interest. They dealt with themes of particular relevance: like prolapse, endometriosis, constipation, themes for which, a confrontation in different fields of medicine was necessary in order to obtain the consensus in the interest of patients. A space for podium presentations and video in plenary session and a session for posters were reserved to the younger colleagues, in an allocated hall and for the fourth time running, space and time were dedicated to the practice for the post-graduate diploma in proctology.
The large amount of papers (114) presented at the congress was quite unexpected, making it very difficult for the selecting panel to decide, consequently many valid and interesting abstracts had to be eliminated.
113 podiums, 6 videos, and 56 posters were chosen in the end. They will be published in Techniques in colon Proctology. The best poster was awarded, the prize was shared between two young post.graduate doctors; Stefania Martina and Massimo Berardino, belonging to the groups Ganio and Trompetto and of the group Altomare, who presented respectively a paper on neuro-sacral modulation and on preparation for colonoscopy.
Attention was given to the professional training of nurses with a course dedicated to perineal rehabilitation, stoma rehabilitation and Fast track surgery.
During the congress the election for the Directive Council for 2009-2011 was held. We wish Aldo Infantino and all elected councillors success in their mandate.
The climate (not only referred to the weather) was of great serenity, elegance and politeness in perfect natural surroundings accompanied by the perfect Sicilian hospitality.

Marina Fiorino