Gout News

The FDA announced that preliminary data from a safety trial demonstrate that, compared with allopurinol, febuxostat is linked to an increased risk for heart-related death. The FDA will examine the final results of the study once they are available, according to a press release.

SAN DIEGO — At the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting, Angelo L. Gaffo, MD, MSPH, discussed a study that determined a validated definition for gout flares. The definition was based on criteria that included: presence of any swelling joint, presence of warm joints, pain at rest greater than 3 in a scale out of 10 and patient self-reported gout flares.

Fear of pain, the development of a positive outlook and the need to adhere to medication regimens are among the main themes that drive African-American veterans to improve gout self-management, according to results.

Results from this study demonstrated patients with early gout treated with febuxostat had improvements in MRI synovitis and a decrease in gout flares compared with patients in a placebo group.

Results published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine showed patients with gout had a relatively higher risk for undergoing rotator cuff repair, especially for patients aged 50 years or younger and without hypouricemic medication control.

Gradual dose escalation of allopurinol appears to be effective and well-tolerated in gout patients for whom creatinine clearance-based doses of allopurinol fail to achieve target urate levels, according to findings.

N. Lawrence Edwards, MD, was watching the Philadelphia 76ers vie for a post-season win on television when he noticed coach and former National Basketball League player Maurice Cheeks hobbling down the sidelines from an attack of gout.

The FDA has approved Ironwood Pharmaceuticals’ Duzallo, a combination pill of lesinurad and allopurinol, for the treatment of hyperuricemia in patients with uncontrolled gout, according to a company press release.

In the Achilles tendon of patients with tophaceous gout, researchers found urate deposition, tophus and vascularization, according to results of a recently published study.

Among elderly patients with gout, the risk of dementia was greater in those with higher levels of serum uric acid, according to a recently published study.