Influence of antihyperuricemic therapy on the clinical and radiographic progression of gout.

Ten years ago, we studied the clinical and radiographic manifestations of gout in 60 patients and described 3 patterns of disease. To determine the consequences of management over a 10-year period, we recently reassessed the 39 available patients of this population. We found that although reduced tophaceous deposition on physical examination correlated with normalization of the serum urate concentration, no correlation existed between radiographic changes and mean serum urate concentrations. Progression of gouty changes on radiography reflected progressive deformity on physical examination. We have described the radiographic changes that occurred in a well-characterized population of subjects with gout over 10 years and determined that serum urate concentrations alone may not provide an effective means of monitoring the progression of tophaceous disease in bone.