Long-term safety and toxicity of azathioprine in patients with air-borne contact dermatitis.
Forty-six patients, 35 males and 11 females between 30 and 75 years age having patch test confirmed air-borne contact dermatitis for 6 months to 20 years were treated with azathioprine for varying periods of 3 months to 3 years. Twenty-two patients (Group 1) received azathioprine 50 mg twice daily orally for 6 months to 3 years, 12 patients (Group 2) were given the drug in a dose of 50 mg once daily and 300 mg once in four weeks orally for 3 months to 2.5 years, and the remaining 12 patients (Group 3) were treated with azathioprine 50 mg twice daily and 300 mg once in 4 weeks orally for 4 degrees months to 2.3 years. All the patients were evaluated clinically as well as biochemically every month to determine the side-effects of azathioprine. Out of these 46 patients, only 2 (4.3%) patients had severe drug-induced side-effects of gastrointestinal and hepatic origin. Three patients had transient rise in SGPT. Eighteen patients had other milder side effects which included mainly cutaneous infections.
Department of Dermatology and Venereology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
K
K
Kaushal
Y
Y
Manchanda