Intrahepatic cholestasis in Bruton’s agammaglobulinemia receiving mesalamine for co-morbid Crohn’s disease

The salicylate derivatives mesalamines are used to treat both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Mesalamines are almost devoid of toxicity, apart from very low figures of nephrotoxicity as derived from large population surveys. Indeed, meticulous analysis of the literature reveals some almost anecdotal cases of cholestatic hepatitis in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients receiving these drugs. We recently encountered one of such patients and we thought it worth describing him, owing to the presence of a peculiar co-morbidity.