Long-term management of gout: nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic therapies

Abstract

Gout is a common disorder with clinical signs and symptoms resulting from inflammatory responses to monosodium urate crystals deposited in tissues from extracellular fluids saturated for urate. Long-term management of gout focuses on nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic means to achieve and maintain serum urate levels in a subsaturating range. Despite a firm understanding of gout pathophysiology, means to achieve certain diagnosis, and a variety of effective therapies, treatment outcomes remain suboptimal. In this review, available nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic therapies for chronic gout are discussed and a framework is provided for successful achievement and maintenance of goal-range serum urate levels.

Keywords: Allopurinol; Febuxostat; Gout; Hyperuricemia; Pegloticase; Risk reduction; Urate-lowering therapy; Uricosuric agents.