[Atypical gout tophi for differential diagnosis of head and neck tumors : case report and review of the literature].

Gout is a mostly hereditary metabolic disease and is considered a disease of affluence. The disease is promoted by a purine-rich diet and shows an intermittent course of inflammatory joint manifestations and periods free of symptoms. The pathognomonic sign of the disease is an acute and very painful monarthritis with typical local deposits of uric acid, so-called gout tophi. No or inadequate treatment leads to the chronic form of gouty arthritis characterized more by joint destruction than by persistent pain. In head and neck gout tophi are seen as nodular lesions along the outer helical edges of the auricle. A case report of gout manifestation in the infratemporal fossa, deriving from the temporomandibular joint, with arrosion of the bony skull base demonstrates gout as a relevant disease for the ENT clinician. Potential diagnostic difficulties as well as recommendations for a therapeutic regimen of gouty lesions in such critical localizations will be reviewed.