The European Endoscopy Training Centre (EETC) is the first structure in Europe to be exclusively dedicated to teaching and training in Digestive Endoscopy and one of the first in the world to have been purposed designed as such.
It has already been recognised as an Official Training Centre by the European Society of Digestive Endoscopy (ESGE) and from the World Organisation in Gastroenterology and Endoscopy (WGO-WEO).

The EETC was created in July 2003 at the Catholic University School of Medicine in Rome, Italy. Since its opening and WGO endorsement in July 2003, the EETC has organised 159 Courses for endoscopists, for a total of 1880 participants and 15 Courses for Nurses.

The centre is a permanent structure located in the centre of the Catholic University’s campus, close to the animal lab, in a fully renovated old building. The building has two floors extending over approximately 500 square meters. The heart of the EETC is situated at the basement floor: there is an operating theater with five working stations fully equipped with state-of-the-art Olympus video-endoscopes, Erbe electrosurgical generators with Argon Plasma Coagulation, and medical gases, where trainees can perform on animal models, under appropriate tutoring, a variety of therapeutic endoscopic procedures. A large number of different endoscopic procedures can be carried out on the isolated upper and lower GI tract of the swine by using the Erlangen EASIE model: polypectomy, mucosectomy, hemostatic procedures on bleeding vessels, APC treatments, self-expandable metal stent insertion, antireflux procedures, bile duct sphicterotmy and stenting, etc. If strictly necessary, the EETC is also fully certified and authorised to use live animals under general anaesthesia to perform special procedures. The presence of a vertinary doctor specialised in animal care guarantees that all ethical requirements are fully respected. Additionally trainees can practice with the Olympus high fidelity screen based Simulator.