[Gout - regardless of therapeutic options a "forgotten" disease].

Compared to other chronic inflammatory diseases, gout appears to based on a rather "simple" pathophysiology and therefore the amount of teaching time in medical school and during internship is rather limited. On the other hand, several problems in short- and long-term management still need to be solved - combined with the problem of an increased incidence in elderly people. However, there is significant advance in the knowledge of its pathophysiology including the fact that gout is more than a pure "crystal arthopathy" but rather within the spectrum of chronic inflammatory immunologic diseases. This includes cytokines such as interleukin-1 and intracellular signaling via the inflammasome. For treatment, the novel and effective xanthine oxidase inhibitor febuxostat has been added to the therapeutic armamentarium. Guidelines of EULAR and BSR support the physician in the long-term management of the numerous gout patients.