New advances have been made in the field of gastrointestinal endoscopy since our previous workshop a year ago. This time we aim to demonstrate how the diagnostic and therapeutic boundaries have blurred between endoscopy and surgery or histopathology.

This workshop is the product of over a year’s hard preparation by the organizing committee, various departments within the hospital and I would like to thank you all for this tremendous effort. Without your active participation we could not have held this meeting and we sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm and commitment. We thank all who have contributed to make this course possible.