What is azathioprin?

Azathioprine is a medicine that suppresses the immune system. It can be used to treat severe rheumatoid arthritis to prevent rejection of a transplanted kidney or for other immune -related conditions. Healthcare providers often warn of many possible risks and side effects associated with the use of azathioprin, often because of its immune suppression. Due to the strong drug action, health care providers are sometimes recommended against this treatment in people with certain health conditions. However, it is assumed that the drug makes the cells of the immune system less sensitive, which is generally less likely to attack perceived attackers. Therefore, it is also called immunosuppressants. In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system is improperly activated and begins to attack its own joints of the body. Azathioprin can help slow down or stop these attacks. Some healthcare providers can also prescribe it to help treat other immune -related diseasesA system such as ulcerative colitis and lupus, which are both autoimmune disorders, similar to rheumatoid arthritis. The drug is not a medicine for any of these conditions.

For most conditions, azathioprine is usually administered as a tablet. There is a form that can be injected, but this path of administration is less common. The prescribed dose is usually calculated on the basis of the patient's weight. Since Azathioprin suppresses the immune system, it has the potential to have a number of negative side effects. One of the most serious ones is the increased risk of cancer, namely lymphoma and cancer. The risk of this can be increased in patients who have taken certain other medicines such as chlorambucil.

Another serious side effect is to reduce the number of white blood cells and plates in the body. This can lead to an increased risk of infection, bruises and bleeding. Patients taking medicines are often administered regular KREat tests to check the number of its blood cells. Over time, because the drug is excluded from the body, the number of blood cells usually returns to normal.

Healthcare providers generally warn of using azathioprine in some patients. This includes patients who have infections because further suppression of the immune system may worsen the infection. In general, it is also contraindicated in women who are pregnant or planned to conceive because it has been shown to cause congenital defects in animal studies. Patients who lack the gene to produce the enzyme known as TPMT, which helps to break down drugs in Ttěla is also generally recommended that the drug should not take due to the risk of toxicity. Testing in order to determine whether patients have a TPMT gene may be performed before treatment.