Mechanisms of the Crystal Deposition Diseases-Gout and Pseudogout
- DANIEL J. MCCARTY, JR., M.D.
Excerpt
Monosodium urate crystal-deposition disease (gout) is the clinician's friend, for it can be diagnosed with precision and treated with specificity. For gout is these urate crystals, whether they are interacting with phagocytes in the acute episode or hardening into concretions in the nearly avascular structures in and about joints. The crystals are invariably present in gout regardless of the cause of the antecedent hyperuricemia and may be identified rapidly by using polarized light microscopy ( 1 ). In a bridge game one peek is worth two finesses; in the differential diagnosis of arthritis one peek through the polarizing microscope is
This 100-word excerpt has been provided in the absence of an abstract.
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