Stopping progression to tophaceous gout - When and how to use urate-lowering therapy

Gout has been called the disease of plenty because throughout its long hist ory, it seems to have affected people with access to a relative abundance o f foodstuffs. However, more than a rich diet is involved when gout progress es to bone erosion and chronic deforming arthritis. The authors discuss hyp eruricemia and its role in deposition of urate crystals in soft tissue, joi nts, bones, and tendons. They also summarize methods to control inflammatio n, prevent ar:ute flares, and lower urate levels to prevent destructive pro gression of the disease.