Pharmacology of Drugs Used in Treatment of Acute Gout

Abstract

Once the diagnosis of acute gout is made, treatment is generally simple and straightforward. Acute gout is probably the most easily treated of the arthritides, provided that therapy is begun early. Most agents effective in controlling acute gouty inflammation have been in use for years and are well known; several new agents have recently become available (Wallace, 1975). A number of reports on the treatment of acute gout have been published (Goldfinger, 1971; Wallace, 1972; Wyngaarden and Kelley, 1976). Table 1 lists the major drugs that have been used for this purpose in clinical practice. The pharmacology and mechanisms of action of these drugs are less well appreciated, however, and deserve further emphasis, although a series of reviews of the clinical pharmacology of one of these agents, colchicine, has previously been reported (Wallace, 1961, 1965; Wallace and Ertel, 1969; Wallace, 1974). Much new recent information has become available.KeywordsPolymorphonuclear LeukocyteAcute GoutPorphyria Cutanea TardaCalcium PyrophosphateAcute Gouty ArthritisThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.