Essential reading from the editor’s desk

Last year, the first digital version of the Belgian Week of Gastroenterology was organized as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this year’s conference was planned as a live event, unfortunately, the fifth COVID wave decided otherwise and forced the Belgian Week to go digital for the second time in 2022 (1, 2). Nevertheless, the organizing committee, coordinated by Prof. Sven Francque and Prof. Isabelle Colle, have put together a top-notch program with state-of-the-art lectures by nationally and internationally renowned speakers and more than 150 abstracts selected for presentation, all of which are published in this issue of the Acta Gastro- Enterologica Belgica. Of course, the Belgian Week is also one of the few occasions where the entire Belgian GI community can meet, interact and celebrate our field. It is evident that the social aspect will be lost to a large extent in the digital format, but let’s not lose our community spirit and look forward to 2023 when we hope to meet again live!

Keywords: COVID-19, FOBT, venous thromboembolism, endoscopic mucosal resection, viral hepatitis.