Assumption #3. Rheumatologists and primary care physicians can achieve flare-free status for most patients with chronic gout by appropriately prescribing xanthane oxidase inhibitors.
One-third of gout patients considered "adequately controlled" by their physicians experienced two or more gout flares per year, according to a national survey of 125 US rheumatologists and 124 primary care physicians by Dinesh Khanna and Puja Khanna of the University of Michigan. Only 26% of the patients were free of flares during the year under study, and fewer than half achieved serum urate levels below 6 mg/dL. (Are current treatment standards and options inadequate to control gout, as the researchers conclude, or are many physicians insufficiently vigilant?)
See: Patients That Continue to Flare Despite Apparent Optimal Urate Lowering Therapy
