[Tophaceous gout of the cervical spine, causing cord compression. Case report and review of the literature]. / Compression médullaire cervicale par tophus goutteux. Revue de la littérature à propos d'un cas.

We present the case of a 74-year-old patient with long-standing gout who developed C4-C5 tophaceous gout causing cord compression. The patient had undergone 4 years earlier for a disco-osteophytic cord compression (anterior C4-C5 and C5-C6 discectomy). When admitted, the patient presented quadriparesia which had developed during the previous week in association with acute tophaceous gout on the knees, and the metarsophalangeal articulations, in the context of a bronchial infection. The diagnosis of spondylodiscitis was initially retained because of the clinical features of severe infection and the radiological data (C4-C5 cord compression, with anterior epidural lesions in MRI). The intervention allowed decompression and pathological diagnosis of tophaceous gout. Spinal gout is well-known, and very rarely responsible for cord compression: only 15 cases of cervical gout have been described in the literature. Radiological findings are not specific, and treatment is surgical in the event of medullar compression despite medical treatment.