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Crystal-Associated Rheumatic Disease

Current Management Considerations

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Summary

Safe, effective treatment is available for acute crystal-associated arthropathy. It is time for some older remedies, phenylbutazone and perhaps colchicine, to give way to more modern regimens of combined NSAID therapy and intra-articular steroid injection. Hypouricaemic agents have revolutionised the management of gout but are not without their dangers, and there is a need for re-emphasis on the value of dietary measures and control of alcohol and diuretic use. At present only symptomatic management is available for chronic pyrophosphate- and hydroxyapatite-associated disease.

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Arie, E., Doherty, M. Crystal-Associated Rheumatic Disease. Drugs 37, 566–576 (1989). https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-198937040-00008

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