Development of ulcerative colitis under the immunosuppressive effect of cyclosporine.

In recent studies, cyclosporine has been used for the treatment of both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The results of these studies were variable. We report on a patient who was treated for 6 years with cyclosporine after kidney transplantation. He developed chronic distal colitis with all the features of ulcerative colitis. An infectious etiology of the colitis was carefully excluded. High-dose treatment with methylprednisolone was required to induce remission. This report shows that immunosuppressive therapy with cyclosporine did not prevent the development of ulcerative colitis in this patient.