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Case Reports
. 2020 Jan 28:2020:6726384.
doi: 10.1155/2020/6726384. eCollection 2020.

Increased Risk of Liver Cirrhosis during Azathioprine Therapy for Crohn's Disease

Jenny Roselli  1 , Tommaso Innocenti  1 , Erica Nicola Lynch  1 , Laura Parisio  1 , Giuseppe Macrì  1 , Monica Milla  1 , Tommaso Mello  1 , Andrea Galli  1 , Stefano Milani  1 , Mirko Tarocchi  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Increased Risk of Liver Cirrhosis during Azathioprine Therapy for Crohn's Disease

Jenny Roselli et al. Case Rep Gastrointest Med. .

Abstract

Azathioprine is a cornerstone of the therapy of Crohn's disease. Unfortunately, infections and malignancies are relatively common adverse effects related to this drug; however, cirrhosis is exceptionally reported as a side effect. We report the case of a 49-year-old male patient with ileocolonic steno-penetrating Crohn's disease who developed hepatic cirrhosis while treated with azathioprine. After taking azathioprine for 3 years with regular follow-up, he developed pancytopenia, and liver cirrhosis was diagnosed with ultrasound, abdomen computed tomography scan, transient elastography, and liver biopsy. As all other causes of liver damage were excluded, azathioprine was believed to be the cause of liver injury and therefore was interrupted.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison between arterial-phase abdomen CT scans from 2014 (before AZA therapy) and 2018 (after AZA therapy).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Findings of histology: marked bridging with regenerative nodules; hematoxylin and eosin stain.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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