Gout

Gout is an inflammatory arthritis caused by monosodium urate crystals accumulating in joints and nearby tissues. It commonly causes sudden attacks of severe pain, redness, and swelling.

Monosodium urate: A salt of uric acid that forms needle-shaped crystals in tissues when its concentration exceeds its solubility. These crystals deposit in joints and trigger the inflammation characteristic of gout.
Arthrocentesis: A procedure that uses a needle to remove fluid from a joint. Joint-fluid analysis can identify urate crystals and help distinguish gout from infection.
Podagra: Gout affecting the first metatarsophalangeal joint at the base of the big toe. This classic presentation often produces abrupt, severe pain and swelling in one joint.
Calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease: An inflammatory arthritis caused by calcium pyrophosphate crystals in cartilage and joints. It can resemble gout clinically, but its crystals have a different shape and birefringence.
Hippocrates: An ancient Greek physician traditionally regarded as a founder of Western medicine. His writings describe podagra and gout as conditions associated with age, sex, and lifestyle.
Hyperuricemia: An abnormally high concentration of urate in the blood. Elevated urate enables crystal formation, though many people with hyperuricemia never develop gout.
Synovial fluid analysis: Laboratory examination of fluid collected from a joint. Microscopy can reveal needle-shaped, negatively birefringent monosodium urate crystals.
Acute gout flare: A sudden episode of joint inflammation caused by gout. Flares are the painful episodes that bring gout to clinical attention.
Septic arthritis: Joint inflammation caused by microorganisms infecting the joint space. It can cause an acutely painful, swollen joint and requires urgent treatment unlike a gout flare.
Alfred Baring Garrod: A British physician who established the link between uric acid and gout in the nineteenth century. Garrod’s measurements helped make urate a biochemical explanation for gout.

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