Methotrexate for Crohn's Disease

Methotrexate is a drug that works as an antimetabolite and antifolate. The drug is often used to help treat cancer and autoimmune diseases, making it an option to assist in the treatment of Crohn's disease.

Process

• Methotrexate works by inhibiting the metabolism of folic acid, which helps curb the symptoms of Crohn's disease.

Support

• Dr. Brian Feagan, a Canadian gastroenterologist, has been a proponent of using methotrexate to combat Crohn's disease for a number of years, and his work has helped make the drug a widely accepted option.

Study

• A French study conducted in 2000 cemented methotrexate as a long-term treatment option for Crohn's disease when it was published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Dosage

• To effectively keep Crohn's disease in remission, it is recommended that doses of 15 milligrams of methotrexate per week are taken. Doses of 25 milligrams per week are suggested to initially send Crohn's disease into remission.

History

• Methotrexate used to be known as amethopterin, and is now a replacement for aminopterin, which was a much stronger and more toxic antifolate used to treat Crohn's disease.