Farraye Co-edits Reference Book on IBD

BUSM Professor Francis A. Farraye, MD, MSc, FACG, FASGE is a coeditor of Curbside Consultation in IBD: 49 Clinical Questions, a concise reference book recently published by Slack Incorporated. The book provides concise and practical answers to questions that are not often answered by other IBD references. This unique volume offers expert advice, preferences, and opinions on tough clinical questions commonly associated with IBD. The Q&A format provides quick access to current information related to IBD with the simplicity of a conversation between two colleagues. Numerous images, diagrams, and references are included to enhance the text and to illustrate IBD.

Francis A. Farraye, MD
Francis A. Farraye, MD

Curbside Consultation in IBD: 49 Clinical Questions provides quick and direct answers to the thorny questions commonly posed during a “curbside consultation” between colleagues. Together with David Rubin, MD and Sonia Friedman, MD, Dr. Farraye have edited a reference that high-volume clinicians will appreciate, and yet is basic enough for residents. Gastroenterologists, fellows and residents in training, surgical attendings, and surgical residents will benefit from its user-friendly and casual format and the expert advice.

Some of the questions that are answered include

  • Which patients might be better for a “top down” approach (using anti-TNF therapy before steroids or proven failure of oral thiopurines)? What clinical behavior or serological markers might you use to identify these patients?
  • When is it appropriate to switch to another biologic therapy?
  • Should I be using chromoendoscopy in my surveillance colonoscopy in IBD? How and which agent? Would narrow band imaging be an alternative for this?
  • Can we follow flat low-grade dysplasia? Is any dysplasia really flat or just a spectrum of depth and size?

Dr. Farraye serves as Clinical Director in the Section of Gastroenterology and Co-Director of the Center for Digestive Disorders at Boston Medical Center . His clinical interests are in the care of patients with IBD, the management of colon polyps and colorectal cancer, as well endoscopy in patients after bariatric surgery. He is studying Vitamin D absorption in patients with IBD, the management and diagnosis of dysplasia and cancer in patients with IBD, and predictors of pouchitis after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA). In the area of colorectal cancer, he is examining the role of hyperplastic polyps as an alternative pathway in the development of colorectal cancer.

A frequent speaker and invited lecturer on topics on the diagnosis and management of IBD, Dr. Farraye has authored or coauthored over 150 original scientific manuscripts, chapters, reviews, and abstracts. His work has been published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, Gastroenterology, Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Annals of Internal Medicine, and JAMA, among others. He is a coeditor for the text Bariatric Surgery: A Primer for your Medical Practice, and an associate editor for Therapy for Digestive Disorders. He recently edited an issue of Gastroenterology Clinics of North America on dysplasia and cancer in IBD. He is the series editor for the Curbside Consultations in Gastroenterology series.

Dr. Farraye is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the ACG. Nationally, he serves as Chair of the Board of Governors and a member of the Board of Trustees in the ACG. He has served as the AGA representative on the National Colorectal Cancer Round Table as Co-Chair of the Standards Committee and as Chair of the Lower Gastrointestinal Disorders Section of the Annual Scientific Program Committee of the ASGE. He is a member of the ASGE Technology Committee, CCFA Professional Education Committee, and the Chapter Medical Advisory Committee for the New England CCFA, where he is a past chairman. The New England CCFA named Dr. Farraye “Humanitarian of the Year” in 2003.