Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 14, 2025
Software-Assisted Quantitative Measurement of Osteoarthritic Subchondral Bone Thickness
Published on: March 18, 2022
Gout: Where Is the Weak Link?
Insights
Gout, a rheumatic disease, is now understood and treatable due to scientific advances. However, clinical diagnosis and management of gout lag behind, prompting a call for greater clinician engagement.
Area of Science:
- Rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases
- Gout pathophysiology and management
Background:
- Gout's understanding has dramatically advanced since the 1950s.
- Established causes, comorbidities, diagnostics, and treatments for gout exist.
- Gout is now considered a curable condition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the paradox between scientific progress in gout and its clinical practice.
- To stimulate clinician interest and improve gout management.
- To review the evolution of gout diagnosis and treatment.
Main Methods:
- Review of scientific literature on gout.
- Analysis of advancements in gout etiology, diagnosis, and therapeutics.
- Comparison of scientific progress with clinical practice standards.
Main Results:
- Significant scientific breakthroughs have transformed gout from an intractable condition to a curable one.
- Clinical diagnosis and management of gout have not kept pace with scientific advancements.
- A gap persists between established quality standards and current clinical practice in gout care.
Conclusions:
- Despite scientific progress, gout diagnosis and management in clinical settings remain suboptimal.
- There is a critical need to bridge the gap between gout research and patient care.
- Increased clinician engagement is essential to improve gout outcomes and achieve its curable potential.
Abstract:
In the field of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, no other condition has evolved so significantly since the mid-1950s as gout. In this period, the cause of gout has been firmly established; the close relationship with other conditions clarified; a rapid, unequivocal diagnostic test established; and agents effective in dissolving monosodium urate crystals and controlling inflammation made widely available. All these insights have ultimately led to deem gout as curable, an end point formerly considered out of reach. Unfortunately, diagnosis and management of gout in clinical practice have not paralleled the scientific advances and remain far from established quality standards. This paradox is the topic of the present review article, intending to increase the widespread interest of clinicians in gout.
Related Concept Videos
01:17Gastritis-II: Pathophysiology
In acute gastritis, the gastric mucosa becomes swollen and red and undergoes superficial erosion. Superficial ulceration may lead to bleeding.
In chronic gastritis, persistent or repeated insults lead to chronic inflammatory changes and, eventually, thinning or atrophy of the gastric tissue.
Gastritis can stem from various causes, each...
01:28Peptic Ulcer Disease II: Pathophysiology
Damaging agents such as Helicobacter pylori, gastric acid, pepsin, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can weaken the mucosal defense, allowing hydrogen ions to infiltrate back and harm epithelial cells.
01:26Urinary Tract Calculi II: Pathophysiology and Clinical Manifestations
01:29Acute Kidney Injury II: Pathophysiology
01:30Peripheral Artery Disease I: Introduction
01:22Pathophysiology of Peptic Ulcer Disease: Injurious Factors
In the antrum region, G cells secrete the gastrin hormone that binds to gastrin-cholecystokinin-B (CCK2) receptors on parietal and enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cells in the fundic glands. Simultaneously, the vagus nerve releases acetylcholine, which binds...