QUESTION Quite a few of my female patients with rheumatic diseases and inflammatory bowel disease are using azathioprine. They are afraid to take a "cancer drug" during pregnancy. What is known about the risks? ANSWER An increasing body of evidence from prospective cohort studies suggests that azathioprine is safe for the fetus during pregnancy.

Two patients with rheumatoid arthritis developed pancytopenia during treatment with azathioprine 100 mg daily. In one patient this side effect occurred after three weeks, in the other after eight weeks of treatment. Rapid fall of platelets in one patient necessitated platelet transfusion. In the other patient additional treatment with allopurinol was probably responsible for the toxic effect. H...

A patient with Crohn's disease and alopecia totalis is described. Despite relative inactivity of the Crohn's disease, treatment with azathioprine was commenced. This led to complete regrowth of hair which was lost when the drug was discontinued. Re-institution of azathioprine restored hair to normal again and the patient has since declined to try stopping the drug despite the knowledge of poten...

Azathioprine is an immunomodulator commonly used in renal transplant recipients and to treat lupus erythematous, inflammatory bowel disease, as second-line therapy cases of rheumatoid arthritis. Here, we present a case non-segmental vitiligo treated with low-dose azathioprine developing life-threatening pancytopenia febrile neutropenia trephine biopsy-proven drug-induced myelosuppression. The p...

To cite: Grelle JL, Halloush RA, Khasawneh FA. BMJ Case Rep Published online: [please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/bcr-2013200405 DESCRIPTION A 75-year-old man with a medical history significant for Crohn’s disease was admitted with suspected sepsis. The physical examination revealed fever and a maculopapular rash involving upper and lower extremities (figure 1). Over the next 2 days, th...

BACKGROUND There are limited data on factors predicting response to azathioprine and uncertainty regarding the optimal duration of treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS The notes of patients attending the Oxford IBD clinic from 1968 to 1999 were reviewed. Remission was defined as no need for oral steroids for at least three months and relapse was defined as active disease requiring steroids. RESU...

BACKGROUND Regulatory macrophages play an important role in wound healing and gut homeostasis and have antiinflammatory properties. Induction of this cell type (Mψ(ind) ) by the anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antibodies, infliximab and adalimumab, has recently been shown in vitro. Also, the superiority of infliximab/azathioprine combination therapy over infliximab or azathioprine monotherapy ...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of immunosuppressive therapy with high-dose cyclosporine, high-dose azathioprine, and a combination of low-dose cyclosporine and azathioprine after tracheal reconstruction by using a trachea-mimetic graft of polycaprolactone (PCL) bellows-type scaffold in a rabbit model. Twenty-four healthy New Zealand white rabbits were used in the study. All...

OBJECTIVE In our experimental study, we aimed to test the effect of FK506, azathioprine and L-carnitine on protection of spinal cord injury due to ischemia-reperfusion. METHODS Twenty-seven Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly divided into five groups. They were subjected to spinal cord ischemia by clamping the abdominal aorta for 45 min. Thirty minutes before the aortic clamping, group I r...

Azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) are effective in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, between 10% and 29% of patients treated with these drugs are forced to stop therapy due to side effects. Pulmonary toxicity due to azathioprine/6-MP has been reported infrequently. We describe 3 patients who developed severe, noninfectious pulmonary toxicity within 1 month after the initiation o...