Chronic Tophaceous Gout in a patient with Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease

Introduction@#Gout is a clinical syndrome resulting from deposition of urate crystals in joints causing inflammation, intense pain and even disability. In 2003 National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHeS), the overall prevalence of gout was 1.6% and the prevalence of hyperuricemia was 28.4% of the 4498 adults >20 years old. Gout complicating cyanotic congenital heart disease (CCHD) was infrequently recognized in early reports with Somerville referring only nine patients over a period of five years in the registry of two hospitals. Recent studies have shown increased recognition, with Yamamura identifying 16% of the 92 patients with CCHD to have gouty arthritis. There is no local data on the frequency of gout among patients with CCHD @*Case Presentation@#26-year-old male previously diagnosed with Transposition of Great Arteries presented with a mass on the 5th digit of left hand with pathologic bone destruction on radiograph underwent disarticulation of the same finger. Intraoperative findings revealed chalky substances that led to the referral to rheumatology section. A diagnosis of chronic tophaceous gout was considered after review of history. He had a three year history of intermittent polyarticular arthritis involving the elbows, knees and ankle joints and later developed tophi in the helices of the ears and the DIP joint of the fifth digit of the left hand. There is increasing level of hyperuricemia as the severity of arthritis progressed. He had a polyarticular gout flare post operatively. The gout attack resolved after treatment with colchicine. Allopurinol was initiated after control of gout flare with resulting decrease in uric acid level.@*Discussion@#This case described a young male patient with transposition of great vessels with acute intermittent polyarthritis and tophi formation. The occurrence of gout and the complexity of the congenital heart disease have caused a considerable financial, functional and emotional instability on the patient, his parents and extended family. In patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease, the prevalence of hyperuricemia ranges from 16 to 43%. Several factors identified to be associated with hyperuricemia in CCHD in our case which include hypoxemia, polycythemia and impaired renal function. Nonetheless, management of gout in patient with CCHD is similar to the primary and secondary gout.@*Conclusion@#Gouty arthritis should be a differential in a patient with a cyanotic congenital heart disease complaining of joint swelling and tenderness. Early and prompt diagnosis will relieve symptoms and prevent complications that may lead to physical inactivity of patients.

Effect of HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor Drugs (Statins) on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction@#Statins have been shown to have antiinflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. In vitro studies show that these drugs inhibit inflammatory cells, decrease the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC), decrease adhesion molecules and inflammatory cytokines (IL6 and IL10), that are also implicated in SLE pathogenesis. In terms of immunomodulary effects, animal studies demonstrate that statins exacerbate/trigger cellular apoptosis and induce a shift in the Th1/Th2 balance leading to B-cell reactivity and production of pathogenic autoantibodies. Whether statins have clinical effects in SLE have not been widely studied. In terms of disease activity, studies show contradicting results. The researchers aim to determine the effect of statins on the disease activity of SLE based on the best available evidence@*Methods@#A systematic literature search of PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases was done with no date and language restrictions. Included studies were on adult SLE patients and randomized controlled trials that used statins as intervention and reported SLE disease activity as an outcome measure. Two reviewers did quality appraisal, risk bias assessment, and data extraction.@*Results@#Three studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Quantitative synthesis was done. The pooled analysis of these studies suggests that atorvastatin has no significant effect on disease activity using random effects model with an overall effect of 0.12 (P=0.90, 95% CI -1.65, 1.88).@*Conclusion@#Atorvastatin neither increased nor decreased SLE disease activity. Therefore possibly it can be safely given to SLE patients without the risk of triggering or exacerbating a flare.