Managing new-onset gout in pediatric renal transplant recipients: when, how, to what extent

Hyperuricemia and gout are common among adult renal transplant recipients, but it is rarely reported following pediatric renal transplantations. Treating gout in pediatric kidney transplant recipients presents clinical challenges to the management of both immunosuppressive regimen and hyperuricemia for their effects on serum uric acid levels, renal function and drug interactions. Most renal transplant recipients have a relative impairment of renal clearance of urate due to abnormalities in renal transport, explaining the association of hyperuricemia and decreased glomerular filtration rate. Risk factors for the development of gout include impaired renal function, hypertension, heart failure and diabetes mellitus. Calcineurin inhibitors, particularly cyclosporine, are the most important risk factor for gout in transplant recipients and should not be used in pediatric renal transplant recipients. Diuretic therapy increases the risk of gout by causing extracellular volume contraction with consequent enhancement of proximal tubular reabsorption. Corticosteroids are increasingly replacing nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and colchicine for the treatment of acute gout flares because they have little effect on kidney function. Proper management is aimed at lowering serum uric acid level below 6.0 mg/dL with xanthine oxidase inhibitors such as allopurinol or febuxostat. Allopurinol and mycophenolate mofetil are safer to use in combination than are allopurinol and azathioprine. Febuxostat is an alternative to allopurinol in patients with allopurinol intolerance or hypersensitivity. Pegloticase is indicated for patients with severe gout in whom allopurinol and febuxostat have not been effective or tolerated.