Sudo gout is weird. For a start there's the spelling.
Is is pseudogout, pseudo gout, sudogout or sudo gout?
Or maybe it's CPDD!
Then, how do you know you've got it, and if you have - what can you do about it?
The medical term is CPDD (Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease), and the common name is pseudo gout (false gout), usually contracted to pseudogout.
I still haven't found any information about a cure, but here is a report of a potential treatment that seems very effective against the symptoms.
Gout Related Research
Pubmed abstract:
Arthritis Rheum. 2007 Feb;56(2):688-92.
Comment in: Arthritis Rheum. 2007 Sep;56(9):3172.
Methotrexate as an alternative therapy for chronic calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease: an exploratory analysis. Chollet-Janin A, Finckh A, Dudler J, Guerne PA.
Division of Rheumatology, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate the effectiveness of methotrexate (MTX), which works not only as an immunosuppressant, but also as a potent anti-inflammatory agent, as an alternative therapeutic option for patients with severe Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease (CPDD, commonly known as psuedogout) who fail to respond to standard therapy with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and/or glucocorticoids.
METHODS:
We analyzed, in 2 university hospitals in Switzerland, consecutive patients with psuedogout that was resistant to classic treatment and were subsequently treated with methotrexate. Before and after initiation of methotrexate therapy, we quantified the frequency of pseudogout attacks, pain intensity, the number of swollen and tender joints, and inflammatory biomarkers. Clinical and biologic side effects of methotrexate and patients satisfaction with methotrexate treatment were also evaluated.
RESULTS:
The study included 5 patients treated with low dosages of methotrexate (5-20 mg/week). The mean followup time with methotrexate was 50.4 months (range 6-81 months). All patients reported an excellent clinical response, with marked improvement within a mean period of 7.4 weeks. A significant decrease in pain intensity (P < 0.0001), swollen and tender joint counts (P < 0.0001), and frequency of attacks was observed. The biomarkers of inflammation decreased markedly when systematically analyzed (3 patients). No significant side effects were reported.
CONCLUSION:
This study suggests that methotrexate could be a valuable therapeutic option for severe psuedogout that is resistant to conventional therapy.
PMID: 17265505 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
I have made some slight changes to the gout-related research abstract from PubMed to make it easier to read. The original abstract and full report are on the Arthritis & Rheumatism website.
Gout Related Research Review
The most important thing to note is that this is a treatment to reduce symptoms, not to tackle the underlying causes of pseudogout. Having said that, it seems very effective:
All 5 patients expressed at least "satisfaction" to "great satisfaction" with MTX treatment, and 1 of them even qualified it as a "miraculous drug"
The researchers urge further studies and clinical trials, in particular they note that the study is:
limited by the small number of subjects, the retrospective evaluation, and the absence of a control group
Please discuss this research, and all aspects of sudo gout on the sudo gout forum.
Page Created: 20th June 2008 - Last Reviewed: 20th June 2008
