EAES Annual Report 2019

48 Consensus conference 2019 EAES Annual Report 2019 It has been 15 years since EAES has launched the 2004 guidelines on obesity surgery, and a lot has changed in the field since then. “Historical“ techniques developed by the pioneers of bariatric surgery were virtually abandoned; plenty of innovations were added to the armamentarium of healthcare professionals for the operative and perioperative management of bariatric patients. Importantly, laparoscopic surgery is now considered the gold standard approach for bariatric surgery. To close this gap, EAES promoted and granted the update (2004-2018) of its obesity surgery clinical guidelines, with the undersigned as coordinators and EAES as the funding body. A multidisciplinary group of 16 experts was established in May 2018, involving the most relevant European Societies dealing with obesity management, namely: the European Chapter of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO-EC), the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) and the European Society for the Peri-operative Care of the Obese Patient (ESPCOP). Their representative, with different competencies (psychologists, diabetologists, obesiologists, anesthesiologists , laparoscopic surgeons) have been active members of the Expert panel, including a representative of the patients as well (EASO patients task force). With the purpose of optimizing the workflow, a “core” team has been created, and each senior member of the multidisciplinary Expert Panel worked in pair with a Junior fellow: the presence of Junior