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6-Thioguanine therapy in Crohns disease-Observational data in Swedish patients
Linköping University, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology . Linköping University, Faculty of Health Sciences. (Landstinget i Östergötland; Local Health Care Services in Central Östergötland; Department of Endocrinology and Gastroenterology; Närsjukvården i centrala Östergötland; Endokrin- och magtarmmedicinska kliniken)
Linköping University, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology . Linköping University, Faculty of Health Sciences. (Landstinget i Östergötland; Local Health Care Services in Central Östergötland; Department of Endocrinology and Gastroenterology; Närsjukvården i centrala Östergötland; Endokrin- och magtarmmedicinska kliniken)
Lund University.
2009 (English)In: Digestive and Liver Disease, ISSN 1590-8658, E-ISSN 1878-3562, Vol. 41, no 3, p. 194-200Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background and aims: Adverse events (AE) leading to discontinuation or dose-reduction of thiopurine therapy (TP) occur in 9-28% of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. 6-Thioguanine (6-TG) has been proposed as an alternative treatment in patients intolerant for azathioprine (AZA), but some concerns have been raised about drug safety.

Methods: We evaluated in a prospective manner the tolerance and efficacy of 6-TG in 23 Crohns disease (CD) patients (13 men, median age 41 (19-65) years) with prior intolerance (n = 18) or resistance (It = 5) to AZA and/or 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP). In addition, eight patients had tried mycophenolate mofetil. Seventeen patients (74%) had undergone intestinal resection, often several times.

Results: Patients were treated with a median daily dose of 40 mg 6-TG (range 20-60) for 259 (15-2272) days. Seven of 13 patients (54%) with active disease went into remission after 8 (4-26) weeks. Sixteen patients (70%) experienced AE that lead to discontinuation (n=10) after 85 (15-451) days or dose reduction (n=6) after 78 (10-853) days. Ten of 18 patients (56%) with prior TP-intolerance discontinued 6-TG treatment due to AE compared to none of five patients with TP-resistance (p=0.046). Of 13 patients that tolerated 6-TG, eight discontinued the drug due to therapeutic failure (n=5) or safety concerns (n=3). Eight patients (35%) continued treatment beyond 12 months. There was no significant difference in maximum thioguanine nucleotide levels between patients with AE leading to discontinuation/dose reduction and patients without AE, 652 (99-2488) vs. 551 (392-1574) pmol/8 x 10(8) RBC; p=0.80.

Conclusions: In this cohort of CD patients with severe disease failing traditional thiopurine treatment, a small fraction (22%) had long-term benefit of 6-TG-treatment. 6-TG therapy seems to offer a limited therapeutic gain for patients intolerant to both AZA and 6-MP and other treatment options should be considered.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2009. Vol. 41, no 3, p. 194-200
Keywords [en]
6-thioguanine, Inflammatory bowel disease, Thiopurine drugs, Drug toxicity
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-17514DOI: 10.1016/j.dld.2008.07.314OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-17514DiVA, id: diva2:209909
Available from: 2009-03-27 Created: 2009-03-27 Last updated: 2017-12-13

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Almer, SvenHjortswang, Henrik

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