[Tophaceous gout in plurimetabolic syndrome]

Aim of this paper is to describe and discuss, on the basis of the available current literature, the case of a female patient affected by a tophaceous gout associated with plurimetabolic syndrome. Hyperuricemia and gout may be seen today in all the populations of developed countries, with increasing frequency on the last fifty years. Increased production or reduced urinary excretion of uric acid (and hypoxanthine and xanthine) are the most important pathogenetic mechanisms of primary or secondary hyperuricemia. Gout is an acute rheumatic disorder (characterized by a limited range of manifestations) which occurs in humans in connection with deposition of crystals of monosodium urate (the final product of purine metabolism) in the articular and soft periarticular tissues. Hyperuricemia and/or gout are often associated with hyperinsulinemia, obesity, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipemia, hypertension and atherosclerosis to form the syndrome called "Plurimetabolic syndrome" or "Syndrome X". Here we report the clinical case of a 64-year-old female patient who had android obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia and hyperuricemia and had been suffering (over many years) from intermittent episodes of severe pain and inflammatory joint swelling (first metacarpo- and metatarso-phalangeal joints) with development of pronounced multiple tophi in bone articular and soft periarticular tissues. Hyperuricemia and acute episodes had never been treated with anti-hyperuricemic drugs because gouty arthritis had never been diagnosed. This severe tophaceous gout associated to multiple metabolic disorders prompted us to present knowledge on gout and to focus on the interrelationships between hyperuricemia and/or gout and plurimetabolic syndrome, important risk factors for coronary heart disease.