What Is Gout?

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What is gout?

This disease is recognized as one of the most painful types of arthritis. It causes sudden, intense pain, swelling, redness, tenderness, stiffness, and heat in one joint, especially in the big toe, or in more joints.

This disease is also called gouty arthritis.

Hyperuricemia (high uric acid level in the blood) has been associated with this disease, though not everyone who has hyperuricemia develops it. Tophi are masses of uric acid crystals which become deposited in various soft tissue areas of the body. When the body creates too much uric acid or excretes too little, the blood can concentrate and form crystals of salt in the joints, leading to pain in the joints involved. Monosodium urate (MSU) crystals are associated with this disease.

It is predominantly a disease of adult men: in fact, 95% of people with gout are men. Most women do not develop it until after menopause. Luckily, this disease is not contagious.

Pseudogout is a gout-like condition, but it differs in the kind of crystal produced. In pseudogout, inflammation in the joints is caused by deposits of calcium pyrophosphate crystals. The knee joint is a common site of pseudogout, though it can affect other joints. Calcium Pyrophosphate Dihydrate Crystal Deposition (CPPD) and chondrocalcinosis are other names for pseudogout. Calcification of cartilage can cause pseudogout.

Thanks for reading.

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Gout – Pictorial image of gout. (Photo credit: Sarah G…) – – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)flickr.com

Sources:  . niams.nih.gov   . gout.com   . rheumatology.org