Diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in gout

Abstract

Gout, a rheumatic disease caused by crystals (crystal arthropathy), is a form of inflammatory arthritis caused by monosodium urate depositing in the synovial fluid and as time goes by outside the joints as well (in other tissues and organs).Gout attacks are sudden and often result from a dietary mistake. In 2015 the European and American Rheumatological Associations (EULAR and ACR) published joint classification criteria for gout. The criteria involve gout-specific clinical symptoms, irregular results of laboratory tests and lesions visible in imaging tests. The “golden standard” of diagnostics still remains the presence of uric acid crystals in a sample of synovial fluid, the contents of the bursa and of the gouty tophus. The course of treatment for patients with gout depends on the stage of the disease, but it comes down to implementing various forms of preventing hyperuricemia by modifying the patient’s lifestyle and diet, reducing risk factors (such as overweight and obesity) and pharmacological treatment, both in-between and during attacks.