Abstract
Gouty arthritis belongs to the group of crystal-induced arthropathies and is among the most common inflammatory joint diseases that is often associated with a wide range of metabolic diseases. Timely diagnosis and initiation of adequate treatment reduces the duration of gouty attack.
The gold standard is articular puncture, if technically feasible, with analysis of the articular aspirate with demonstration of sodium urate crystals. If this is not feasible, diagnosis can be made based on the ACR (American College of Rheumatology) classification criteria that are a combination of clinical symptoms and paraclinical examinations.
The treatment of chronic gout is associated with both preventing acute exacerbations and affecting uric acid levels as well as an effort to prevent or reduce the formation of tophi and development of renal injury