Painless gouty tophus in the nasal bridge: A case report and literature review

Medicine (Baltimore). 2019 Mar;98(11):e14850. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000014850.

Abstract

Rationale: A gouty tophus, arising from the deposition of monosodium urate crystals (MSU), rarely occurs in the nasal bridge. There have been only 7 documented cases of a gouty tophus in the nasal bridge from 1978 to 2018 in English-language literature.

Patient concerns: A 65-year-old male had a chief complaint of a lump in the nasal bridge that was slowly growing for over 1 year.

Diagnosis: MSU crystals were confirmed through ultrasonography (US) and pathological examinations.

Interventions: A cosmetically less destructive method, ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was used to approach the mass lesion of nasal bridge.

Outcomes: The diagnosis was confirmed as a gouty tophus without performing a nasal subdermal exploration.

Lessons: This case report is the first use of US with FNAC to approach and diagnosed a gouty tophus in the nasal bridge.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Arthritis, Gouty / complications
  • Arthritis, Gouty / diagnosis*
  • Biopsy, Fine-Needle / methods
  • C-Reactive Protein / analysis
  • Colchicine / analysis
  • Colchicine / blood
  • Febuxostat / analysis
  • Febuxostat / blood
  • Gout / drug therapy
  • Gout Suppressants / analysis
  • Gout Suppressants / blood
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Nose / abnormalities*
  • Nose / physiopathology
  • Prevalence
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods
  • Uric Acid / analysis
  • Uric Acid / blood

Substances

  • Gout Suppressants
  • Febuxostat
  • Uric Acid
  • C-Reactive Protein
  • Colchicine