Diagnosis of gout

The diagnostic criteria for gout include joint symptoms, blood uric acid levels, urate crystals found in joint fluid or tophi, imaging, and exclusion of other diseases. 1. Acute arthritis with repeated joint symptoms, mostly at night or early morning, often involving the first metatarsophalangeal joint, but also involving ankles, knees, elbows and other joints, joint redness, heat pain and dysfunction, can be relieved by itself or after treatment. 2. Serum uric acid level: > 420 μ mol/L in men and postmenopausal women,> 350 μ mol/L in premenopausal women. However, it should be noted that elevated blood uric acid levels do not necessarily mean gout, and in gout attacks, blood uric acid levels may also be normal, so can not rely solely on blood uric acid levels to diagnose gout, need to be combined with clinical symptoms comprehensive judgment.3. Urate crystals found in synovial fluid or tophstones This is the gold standard for the diagnosis of gout. Through polarized light microscope examination of synovial fluid, it can be confirmed whether there are urate crystals, which has important diagnostic value for some atypical cases. 4. Imaging examination X-ray, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other imaging examinations can find joint damage, tophith and other manifestations, which are helpful for diagnosis and evaluation of the disease. 5. Excluding other diseases requires excluding other diseases that can cause similar joint symptoms, such as rheumatoid arthritis, septic arthritis, traumatic arthritis, etc.