Canadian Association of Gastroenterology position statement regarding the use of thiopurines for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

摘要

The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology is issuing the present position statement to address concerns resulting from the recent Health Canada warning, "Imuran (azathioprine) or Purinethol (mercaptopurine) - association with a type of blood cancer - hepato-splenic T-cell lymphoma - for health professionals" (Box 1) (1). While the alert does not contain new information, it informs clinicians of updates to the product labelling for azathioprine (Imuran, Triton Pharma Inc, Canada) and 6-mercaptopurine (Purinethol, Teva Canada Ltd, Canada) to include the association with the development of hepatosplenic T cell lymphoma (HSTCL). This serious cancer has been rare in Canada, with Health Canada reports including two cases (one fatal) with mercaptopurine and four cases with azathioprine (three fatal).