Salazopyrin in the management of Crohn's disease. The Japanese Research Committee for Crohn's disease

Abstract

A daily single dose of 1 g/15 kg body weight Salazopyrin was administered to 36 patients with Crohn's disease in order to evaluate its therapeutic effectiveness. The effectiveness was assessed using criteria consisting of symptoms, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and CRP. Results showed that the response was excellent in 12 cases (33%), good in 3 cases (8%), fair in 5 cases (14%), but nil in 16 cases (44%) of the 36 cases. Salazopyrin appears to be more effective in cases with lesions confined to the large intestine. It is also suggested that Salazopyrin is more effective in cases with short duration of symptoms, i.e., in cases previously untreated for Crohn's disease. Furthermore, results proved that Salazopyrin had a beneficial effect on the ESR and CRP values, serum albumin and alpha 2-globulin levels and on the platelet count in cases (p less than 0.05). It was also shown to have a beneficial effect on the ESR and CRP values, alpha 2-globulin level and platelet count for cases with both small and large intestinal involvement as well as on the CRP value and serum albumin level for cases with involvement of the large intestine only (p less than 0.05). In addition, changes in the X-ray and/or endoscopic findings were simultaneously investigated in 12 cases in which excellent responses were obtained. With Salazopyrin alone, the lesions disappeared roentgenologically and endoscopically in 5 of the 12 cases. X-ray and/or endoscopic examination showed lesions remaining in 6 of the other 7 cases, despite the disappearance of symptoms and normalization of the ESR and CRP values. These lesions disappeared after treatment with an elemental diet administered by nasointestinal infusion in 3 of the 4 cases examined.