It is our pleasure to announce in this issue of Digestive Diseases and Sciences an exciting new collaboration with SIRC (Società Itialiana di Ricerche in Chirurgia). Due to the graciousness of the SIRC Board, keen to collaborate with DDS by a decision made during a meeting held in Rome in October 2018, we are pleased to take this first step with the following new case feature.

This issue of DDS features a report of an unusual case of post-ERCP liver hematoma coauthored by a sixth-year medical student, Caterina Sommariva, that is, based on a case presented at the weekly interdisciplinary conferences held in the Emergency Surgery Unit of St. Orsola University Hospital in Bologna, under the supervision of Prof Tonini. This case, due to its rarity, combined with a thorough analysis of all similar cases published to date, will be of considerable interest to the readers of DDS and to SIRC members alike. We plan to publish cases of mutual interest monthly in addition to cooperation in scholarly and networking activities of joint benefit.

I hope that you will join us in thanking SIRC Board for its hard work and foresight that has made this agreement a reality.