Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 7, 2015; 21(1): 254-261
Published online Jan 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i1.254
Azathioprine is essential following cyclosporine for patients with steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis
Nobuyuki Miyake, Takafumi Ando, Kazuhiro Ishiguro, Osamu Maeda, Osamu Watanabe, Yutaka Hirayama, Keiko Maeda, Kazuhiro Morise, Masanobu Matsushita, Kazuhiro Furukawa, Kohei Funasaka, Masanao Nakamura, Ryoji Miyahara, Naoki Ohmiya, Hidemi Goto
Nobuyuki Miyake, Takafumi Ando, Kazuhiro Ishiguro, Osamu Maeda, Osamu Watanabe, Yutaka Hirayama, Keiko Maeda, Kazuhiro Morise, Masanobu Matsushita, Kazuhiro Furukawa, Kohei Funasaka, Masanao Nakamura, Ryoji Miyahara, Hidemi Goto, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya City, Aichi 466-8550, Japan
Naoki Ohmiya, Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan
Author contributions: Miyake N, Ando T, Ishiguro K, Maeda O, Watanabe O designed research; Hirayama Y, Maeda K, Morise K, Matsushita M, Furukawa K, Funasaka K, Nakamura M, Miyahara R, Ohmiya N collected data; Miyake N and Ando T wrote the paper; Goto H provided the critical review of the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Takafumi Ando, MD, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi 466-8550, Japan. takafumiando-gi@umin.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-52-7442144 Fax: +81-52-7442175
Received: March 11, 2014
Peer-review started: March 11, 2014
First decision: April 2, 2014
Revised: April 28, 2014
Accepted: July 22, 2014
Article in press: July 22, 2014
Published online: January 7, 2015
Processing time: 301 Days and 17.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Cyclosporine is effective in avoiding emergency surgery in patients with severe steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis. However, few studies have evaluated long-term outcomes of cyclosporine therapy in Asia. This paper provides important information regarding the maintenance of steroid-free remission following cyclosporine therapy. Maintenance therapy with azathioprine improves the long-term efficacy of continuously infused cyclosporine in patients with severe steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis.