Safe treatment of thiopurine S-methyltransferase deficient Crohn's disease patients with azathioprine
Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) deficient patients develop life threatening haematotoxicity (for example, pancytopenia) when treated with a standard dose of azathioprine (AZA) and 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) due to excessive accumulation of cytotoxic metabolites. At present, it is generally recommended that these patients should not receive AZA or 6-MP treatment for inflammatory bowel disease. W