Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of gout.

Gout has been academically considered to be a step-up disease consisting of different stages: acute gout, intercritical gout, and chronic gout. This simple approach may lead to misinterpretation and misdiagnosis. In clinical practice, we should consider gout as a single disease with either or both acute (most commonly, episodes of acute inflammation) and persistent clinical manifestations, but not restricted to chronic synovitis. In this article, an innovative, practical, and rational approach to the clinical manifestations and diagnosis of gout is presented, which may be supportive for clinicians involved in everyday care and management of patients with gout.