The Sound Of Gout Toe Pain 
Diagnosis of gout has never been easy. In most cases it starts with toe pain and a swollen big toe, but in many cases it doesn’t.
Where gout goes undetected, problems can build up – unnoticed and untreated.
Recent research includes ultrasound and a number of studies have looked at the effectiveness of ultrasound in diagnosing gout.A recent study comparing ultrasound to conventional x-ray has shown some remarkable findings. Not least of which is the ability of ultrasound to measure effects of gout even when the patient has had no gout pain.
ARD – Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, the EULAR journal, has just published a study from Dr Stephen A Wright and others online prior to publication. The objectives of the study, High resolution ultrasonography of the 1st metatarsal phalangeal joint in gout ,were:
- Compare high resolution ultrasound (HRUS) with conventional radiography in the detection of big toe damage (erosions in the 1st MTPJs) of patients with gout.
- identify characteristic sonographic features of gout.
The study found that ultrasound could detect tophi in many more cases than with conventional x-ray. Not only that, but out of 22 patients that had not been subject to an acute gout attack, ultrasound detected signs of tophi in 10 patients (compared to 3 with x-ray).
I hope that these techniques can soon become part of regular health screening procedures. Especially for those at risk of gout. Early detection and treatment will surely reduce the chances of serious gout toe pain.
I really hope your right about what you said being at risk for gout “part of regular health screening procedures” I have found on my own quest to get information out that a lot of our seniors are suffering needlessly. I feel a couple a reasons are for this. A lot of older sufferers are intimidated to go on line and seek alternative methods of treatments.
They are also afraid to ask their doctor questions. The doctors more often just perscribe a drug and send them on there way.
There are many reasons why it takes a long time for new diagnostic measures to become widely accepted. Being cynical, I suspect it is because there is more money in promoting new treatments.
With the new Seimens technique coming in showing, even more clearly, what depositions are building- there is really no excuse whatsoever to let sufferers put up with absolute agony any longer.
Yes, this machine is expensive but if those deadly X-ray machines could find their way into every corner shoeshop 50 years ago- there’s NO excuse for neglect of middle aged to elderly patients and a continuing drugs only regime once the damage has established itself, due to NEGLECT by the medical establishment.
Action to raise awareness, like breast cancer had to get, (lets hope Prostate cancer gets the same attention as highlighted recently) is needed -and a good place to start is here.
Some kind of concerted action is needed to break into the complacency of the non sufferers running the system.