What is the connection between gout and colchicine

  Gout is a crystalline arthropathy caused by disorder of purine metabolism and/or reduced uric acid excretion, which can manifest as acute recurrent arthritis, gout stone formation, gout stone chronic arthritis, urate nephropathy, uric acid urinary tract stones, and in severe cases, joint disability and renal insufficiency.  With the improvement of social life and the change of diet structure, the incidence of this disease is increasing year by year. In some places, gout can step into the list of common diseases.  Modern medicine often prefers colchicine for the treatment of the acute phase of this disease. Colchicine is used to stop or reduce the secretion of chemokines by interfering with the chemotaxis of neutrophils and synoviocytes that phagocytize uric acid salts, and to terminate acute attacks or prevent them. However, this drug must be taken orally until the patient experiences gastrointestinal reactions such as nausea and abdominal discomfort before it can be discontinued; and the therapeutic dose is close to the toxic dose, which can also lead to adverse reactions such as leukocyte reduction and hair loss. Therefore, many patients are unable to accept it, but they have to apply it, which is a helpless choice. To date, many clinicians still use this drug as a common treatment for gout.  Because of the adverse effects of colchicine, it is recommended that NSAIDs are preferred for the clinical treatment of the acute phase of gout. Such as diclofenac sodium, ibuprofen and other drugs, but still need to pay attention to the gastrointestinal tract and other adverse reactions of this class of drugs when using, or with gastric mucosal protective agents.  When non-steroidal drugs are ineffective, short-term application of hormones can be chosen.  And colchicine is used as the third category of choice drugs. Colchicine can effectively reduce pain and clinical symptoms, but its higher toxic side effects limit its application, so when there are contraindications to NSAIDs or corticosteroids or when the efficacy is poor, colchicine should be used as a second-line treatment drug.