CURRENT THERAPY OF GOUT

Although there is no known cure for gout, the control of the frequency and severity of acute attacks is satisfactory with the measures available. Failure to recognize and manage acute gout leads to much unnecessary suffering and ultimate deformity. Since recent studies point to the hereditary etiology of gout, 1 relatives of patients with active gout who have hyperuricemia should live moderately and avoid obesity, fatigue, exposure to extremes of temperature, excessive trauma to joints, excessive intake of foods high in purines, and all known provocatives of acute gouty arthritis. A consideration of the treatment of gout must, by the very nature of the disease, be divided into two parts. The now well-known diagram of Dr. Philip Hench (fig. 1) illustrates the typical pattern of the disease and indicates the pretophaceous or first stage, characterized by acute recurrent arthritis with complete remissions, and the tophaceous stage, characterized by chronic arthritis