Nutritional Therapy Versus 6-Mercaptopurine as Maintenance Therapy in Patients with Crohn's Disease

    April 2012 in “ Digestive and Liver Disease
    Hiroyuki Hanai, Takayuki Iida, Ken Takeuchi, Hajime Arai, Osamu Arai, Jinrou Abe, Tatsuo Tanaka, Yasuhiko Maruyama, Kentaro Ikeya, Ken Sugimoto, Toshio Nakamura, Kouichi Nakamura, Fumitoshi Watanabe
    TLDR Elental is a good long-term treatment for Crohn's disease, similar to 6-mercaptopurine but with fewer side effects.
    The study compared the efficacy of an elemental diet (Elental) and 6-mercaptopurine as maintenance therapies for Crohn's disease over 24 months. Ninety-five patients with a Crohn's disease activity index ≤150 were divided into three groups: 6-mercaptopurine (n=30), Elental (n=32), and a control group (n=33), all receiving 5-aminosalicylic acid. The remission rates were 60% for 6-mercaptopurine, 46.9% for Elental, and 27.2% for the control group. Both 6-mercaptopurine and Elental were more effective than the control, with no significant difference between them. However, 6-mercaptopurine was associated with side effects, including liver injury and alopecia. The study concluded that Elental was as effective as 6-mercaptopurine for long-term maintenance therapy in Crohn's disease.
    Discuss this study in the Community →

    Related Community Posts Join

    6 / 1000+ results

      community 6 Month Transplant Update-Dr. Anuj, Medrootz (delhi)

      in Transplants  82 upvotes 1 week ago
      The user is very satisfied with their hair transplant results after six months, using finasteride, minoxidil, and ketoconazole shampoo. They praise Dr. Anuj and consider future touch-ups for a small untouched crown area.

      community 6 Month | Oral Finasteride Only 1mg Daily | Update (25m)

      in Finasteride/Dutasteride  223 upvotes 3 weeks ago
      A 25-year-old male experienced significant hair regrowth after taking 1mg of oral finasteride daily for six months, with no side effects reported. Previously, he had used finasteride combined with minoxidil but stopped all treatments for a year before resuming finasteride alone.

      community 6 months of treatment and sudden shedding

      in Progress Pictures  8 upvotes 1 month ago
      A 28-year-old male experienced hair loss after COVID-19 and used Minoxidil with initial success, but later faced shedding again. He started Finasteride in February 2025, noticing improvements, but recent shedding has caused concern; his regimen includes Minoxidil, microneedling, ketoconazole shampoo, red light therapy, supplements, and a healthy lifestyle.

      community 6 months fin, min, dermastamp, RLT

      in Progress Pictures  148 upvotes 1 month ago
      The user has been using finasteride, minoxidil, a dermastamp, and red light therapy for six months with no visible improvement since the three-month mark. Other users noted improvement, particularly in the left temple area, and encouraged the user to continue.

    Related Research

    1 / 1 results