Managing Gout in Primary Care [Paperback]

This handbook discusses developments and the future of gout treatment, which looks promising. Gout has been a well-known disease for over 2000 years, and is the most common cause of joint inflammation in adult males. It has become apparent that no therapeutic target based on hyperuricemia outcome had been defined. Very few controlled trials were available to test the efficacy and safety of treatments, and no research on diagnosis and management had been done despite data showing that patients with gout were generally improperly treated even in the hands of specialists. In the last 10 years, good-quality evidence on gout impact and management has grown exponentially, renal transporters have been recently identified, and a number of new drugs have been approved or are under current development.Disease Overview.- Physiopathology of Gout.- Diagnosis of Gout.- Treatment of Hyperuricemia in Gout.- Prevention and Treatment of Inflammation in Gout.- Appendix.

Fernando Perez-Ruiz (MD, PhD) gained his MD qualification in The Basque Country University in 1985. After passing the Fellowship National Examination Trial, he applied for fellowship at Hospital Ramon y Cajal in Madrid, and joined the Rheumatology Board in 1991. He is a Senior Specialist in the Rheumatology Division at Cruces University Hospital, Baracaldo, Vizcaya, Spain, where he has worked from 1991 to date as a general rheumatologist. Although initially involved with clinical investigation and publications in lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia, in the last 20 years he has focused in, and is devoted to, crystal-induced arthritis, and especially gout. He gained his PhD qualification in Barcelona University through studies of classification and urate-lowering therapy in gout. He has presented over 200 scientific communications, over 50 lectures, and published over 100 papers and book chapters, most of them involving clinical investigation in gout or pyrophosphate arthritis. Curreló¾