Background:Gouty arthritis is a common, potentially disabling and increasingly prevalent disease [1]. The main goals of treatment are to treat acute arthritis, decrease uric acid (UA) levels and prevent occurrence of further attacks. According to 2016 updated EULAR evidence-based recommendations for the management of gout, the most common and efficient options include prescription of colchicine (up to 6 mg during the first day) and intra-articular injections of glucocorticoids (GC) [2]. First option often causes diarrhea, the latter is extremely traumatic and painful in this group of patients.Objectives:The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of sustainability of anti-inflammatory effect of combination of low dose colchicine with sporadic intramuscular injections of betamethasone in the treatment of acute gouty arthritis.Methods:41 treatment naïve patients with acute gouty arthritis (27 male /65,9 %/, 14 female /34,1 %/, mean age 55,9 ± 13,7 years, mean disease duration 5,9 ± 4,4 years) were recruited in the study. On the first visit all the patients were prescribed 1.5 mg of colchicine per day and 2 intramuscular injections of betamethasone preparation (7mg-1ml) with an interval of 4 days. On the second visit (30thday) daily dose of colchicine was decreased to 1.0 mg, urate-lowering therapy (ULT) was begun. 21 patients (51,2%) received febuxostat 80 mg/day, 20 patients (48,8%) – allopurinol 100-150 mg/day.Routine investigation included accurate collection of disease history, objective examination with determining the disease activity (Gout Activity Score /GAS/) and visual analogue scale (VAS patient), CBC, CRP, measurement of serum UA and creatinine level, urinalysis and other examinations [4]. GAS, VAS, CRP and uric acid were measured 3 times: at baseline, on 30thand 60thday of follow-up period.Results:Investigation had shown the following results at baseline: sUA1- 9,2 ± 1,5 mg/dl, CRP1- 24,3 ± 21,5 mg/L, VAS1- 8,3 ± 1,3 cm, GAS16,3 ± 0,7. All enrolled patients completed 60 days of treatment. Preparations were well tolerated, no serious adverse events occurred: mild dyspepsia was observed in 4 (9,8%) patients, mild hypertension – in 7 (17,1%), 10 (24,4%) patients had transient diarrhea. Only in 14 out of 41 patients (34,1 %) there was a necessity to add NSAIDs to the main scheme of treatment.On the second visit (30thday) all investigated measures with exception for UA (sUA2- 8,8 ± 1,9 mg/dl, p>0.05) had shown significantly lower results: CRP2- 4,9±3,5 mg/dl, VAS2– 4,2±1,2 cm, GAS2- 4,9 ± 0,7 (p<0.001).On the third visit (60thday) the following results were obtained: sUA3- 4,7 ± 1,3 mg/dl, CRP3- 3,5±2,0 mg/L, VAS3- 3,3±2,1 cm, GAS3- 3,7±0,9. All the measures were significantly lower than at baseline (p<0,001).During all the follow-up period recurrent attacks of arthritis were observed in 6 patients (14,6%), particularly, only 2 patients experienced arthritis after the prescription of ULT.Conclusion:Low dose colchicine in combination with sporadic (1-2) intramuscular injections of betamethasone can present as an efficient, non-traumatic, safe and cost-effective option for the treatment of acute gouty arthritis. Moreover, according to results of our study, anti-inflammatory effect was stable even after the prescription of ULT.References:[1]Kuo C-F, Grainge MJ, Zhang W, et al. Global epidemiology of gout: prevalence, incidence and risk factors. Nat Rev Rheumatol 2015;11:649–62. doi:10.1038/nrrheum.2015.91[2]Richette P, et al. 2016 updated EULAR evidence-based recommendations for the management of gout Ann Rheum Dis 2017;76:29–42. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-209707[3]Scirè, Carlo A et al. “Development and First Validation of a Disease Activity Score for Gout.” Arthritis care & research vol. 68,10 (2016): 1530-7. doi:10.1002/acr.22844Disclosure of Interests: :None declared
Diagnosis and Treatment of Gout Arthritis
