Open fracture as a rare complication of olecranon enthesophyte in a patient with gout.

Enthesophytes are analogous to osteophytes of osteoarthritis. Enthesopathy is the pathologic change of the enthesis, the insertion site of tendons, ligaments, and joint capsules on the bone. In gout, the crystals of monosodium urate monohydrate may provoke an inflammatory reaction that eventually may lead to ossification at those sites (enthesophytes). Here we report the case of a man with chronic gout who sustained an open fracture of an olecranon enthesophyte when he fell on his left elbow. To our knowledge, no other case of open fracture of an enthesophyte has been reported in the English literature.