Cs. Constantinescu et al., Long term azathioprine fails to prevent onset of multiple sclerosis: Report of two cases, MULT SCLER, 6(5), 2000, pp. 362-363
Azathioprine is on immunosuppressive drug widely used in the treatment of c
hronic inflammatory diseases, including Multiple Sclerosis (MS). We report
two patients who developed the first manifestations of clinically definite
multiple sclerosis while on long term (3.5 and 10 years respectively) treat
ment with azothioprine for Crohn's disease. Both patients developed the fir
st MS symptoms during a quiescent phase of their inflammatory bowel disease
. These cases show that long term azathioprine, while possibly maintaining
inflammatory bowel disease under control, could not prevent the onset of MS
.