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Pregnancy and imuran


Sun, July 31, 2016 11:18 PM

I am on remicade and recently started on imuran also because I was still having symptoms with just the remicade. I am wanting to try to get pregnant in the near future if I can achieve remission. Does anyone have experience with imuran during pregnancy?

FPO mrshuffy
Joined Jun 17, 2015

Thu, August 04, 2016 11:04 AM

In January 2016 we had a facebook Chat on Pregnancy in IBD and Neonatal Outcomes.   Our host was Dr. Uma Mahadevan.   She answered a question on Imuran and Preganacy.  The question and response is below 
http://www.slideshare.net/CrohnsColitis/facebook-chat-120-pregnancy-in-ibd-and-neonatal-outcomes


Q5: I take 100mg of Imuran every day for the treatment of my ulcerative colitis. I have been in remission for approximately 3 years. My last colonoscopy was benign. I have met with a high risk OB at my office and she says this medication will be ok with pregnancy because the benefits outweigh the risks. Has there been any research on this medication & pregnancy?? My husband and I are currently trying to conceive so I'm wondering how this will affect my pregnancy. Thanks!!

Answer: The greatest risk to the pregnancy is disease activity. If you have active disease, then you have a 3-4 times greater risk of preterm birth. Preterm birth, though it seems so common nowadays, is actually associated with increased infant death and complications and with not doing well alter in life even if the parents are high income.
We recommend patients are in remission at least 3 months before considering getting pregnant. In PIANO, we had 383 Imuran/6mp exposed patients either alone or with biologics. There was no increase in birth defects, complications of pregnancy or developmental milestones. We measured developmental milestones in our babies out to 4 years of age, as well as complications such as cancer, autism and infection. Being on Imuran alone or a biologic alone was not associated with an increased risk of any of these complications in the study so far. 

FPO administrator
Joined Oct 12, 2017

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