Gout Diagnosis
It can be tricky to get an accurate diagnosis for gout as its symptoms are similar to some other medical conditions when they start to appear. However, hyperuricemia develops in the majority of people who suffer from gout, but it might not be present during a gout attack or the flare-up. In addition, most of the people having the condition of hyperuricemia does not necessarily develop gout. One diagnostic test which is very promising according to the doctors is the joint fluid test. In joint fluid test, the doctor extracts fluid with a needle from the joint having symptoms of gout. The doctors then examine the fluid to check if there are any urate crystals present in it or not.
As some infections in joints can also result in causing similar symptoms as gout, so a doctor might look for bacteria when doing a joint fluid test in order to watch out for a bacterial cause of the symptoms. The doctors send the fluid for further testing in lab where it can take few days to complete the analysis. Doctors might also want to do a blood test to detect the levels of uric acid in a patient’s blood but people having higher uric acid does not necessarily mean that the patient is experiencing gout. Moreover, some people can also develop the symptoms of gout without having elevated levels of uric acid in their blood.
In addition, doctors might also look for uric acid crystals within a tophus or around the joints using ultrasound scan. X-rays are not able to detect gout but they might be helpful in ruling out the other causes of symptoms like swelling, tenderness, and stiffness in joints. Doctors typically diagnose the condition of gout by looking on the symptoms and the appearance of the joint affecting. Following are some tests that help in the diagnosis of gout:
Blood test
The doctor might recommend a blood test to detect the levels of uric acid in a patient’s blood. Blood tests can be very misleading in case of getting an accurate diagnosis for gout. Some people might have signs and symptoms as similar to gout but never suffer from unusual levels of uric acid in their blood. On the other hand, some people never experience gout even if they have high uric acid levels in their blood.