Mesalazine as a maintenance treatment in Crohn’s disease

Editor,—We read with interest the occasional viewpoint by Sahmoud and Mary ( Gut 1997; 40 :284–5). As is too often the case in such reviews, the authors have failed to identify all of the relevant literature pertinent to the topic: the maintenance of remission or prevention of recurrence of Crohn’s disease. For example, with regard to azathioprine, rather than two trials of treatment, actually six trials (including the NCCDS Parts I …