Gout is a common inflammatory joint disease caused by deposition of urate crystals. The disease leads to severe pain, morbidity and activity limitation of patients. Nevertheless, handling of gout remains underprioritized. Diagnosis is often established years after the first symptoms, and even when acknowledged gout treatment is often suboptimal.

Ultrasound and dual-energy CT offer great potential in helping clinicians with more accurate assessment of gout and the possibility to observe treatment effects in a more sensitive manner. However, few studies had investigated the properties of the imaging modalities for diagnosing and monitoring gout.

The overall aims of this PhD were 1) to investigate the ability of ultrasound to correctly diagnose gout, 2) to reliably grade and monitor ultrasound lesions during treatment, and 3) to investigate the properties and locations of dual-energy CT lesions in gout.

Our results showed that the two imaging modalities are valid tools for diagnosing gout, although caution should be taken when assessing lesions since not all are gout specific. Ultrasound showed sensitive for detection of changes in urate depositions during treatment, and a scoring system for grading lesions sem -quantitatively was developed. 

All findings are published in peer reviewed journals and can be accessed via links below.

Professor Mikkel Østergaard, MD, PhD, DMSc, Copenhagen Center for Arthritis Research (COPECARE), Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Rigshospitalet Glostrup

Professor Lene Terslev, MD, PhD, Copenhagen Center for Arthritis Research (COPECARE), Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Rigshospitalet, Glostrup

Consultant Ole Slot, MD, Copenhagen Center for Arthritis Research (COPECARE), Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Rigshospitalet, Glostrup