Myopericarditis in a patient with ulcerative colitis treated with mesalamine—Case report and review of the literature

Mesalamine has been successfully used as a maintenance treatment in inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease for years. Most frequent adverse reactions to this medication are gastrointestinal disorders and headaches while cardiovascular complications are rare and poorly understood. We present a case of a 26-year-old male with ulcerative colitis developing myopericarditis on mesalamine therapy. Although cardiac involvement is reported to be an extraintestinal manifestation of the bowel disease, we describe evidence confirming the diagnosis of mesalamine-induced myopericarditis in our patient and discuss other reports on this topic. Even though myopericarditis is an uncommon adverse reaction to mesalamine, it should be considered in patients with chest pain during mesalamine therapy. In such cases, drug withdrawal may result in rapid clinical improvement.