Vincent C Giani1, Edward Gutteling. 1. 1Hawaii Island Family Medicine Residency Program, Hilo, Hawaii 2Hilo Community Surgery Center and Hilo Orthopedics, Hilo, Hawaii.
Abstract
CASE: We report a 58-year-old woman with no history of gout who subsequently developed gouty tophi around retained suture material identified 12 ½ years after repair of a ruptured Achilles tendon. The patient had intermittently developed an apparent postsurgical infection at and around the incision site. She had normal uric acid levels. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of gout was not confirmed until surgical exploration was performed 12 ½ years after the initial surgery. Awareness of such a rare incidence of surgical site gout would help clinicians in their management decisions.
CASE: We report a 58-year-old woman with no history of gout who subsequently developed gouty tophi around retained suture material identified 12 ½ years after repair of a ruptured Achilles tendon. The patient had intermittently developed an apparent postsurgical infection at and around the incision site. She had normal uric acid levels. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of gout was not confirmed until surgical exploration was performed 12 ½ years after the initial surgery. Awareness of such a rare incidence of surgical site gout would help clinicians in their management decisions.