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Gout - Background information
What is it?
- Gout is a disorder of purine metabolism characterized by a raised uric acid level in the blood (hyperuricaemia) and the deposition of urate crystals in joints and other tissues, such as soft connective tissues or the urinary tract.
- Gouty arthritis is arthritis due to urate crystals in joints.
- The natural history of gout can occur in three distinct phases:
- A long period of asymptomatic hyperuricaemia before gout manifests.
- A period during which acute attacks of gouty arthritis are followed by variable intervals (months to years) when there are no symptoms, so-called 'interval gout', or 'intercritical gout'.
- The final period of chronic tophaceous gout, where people have nodules affecting joints.
- Gout may present without hyperuricaemia, and hyperuricaemia may occur without gout.
[Warrell et al, 2003a; Warrell et al, 2003b]
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