Successful treatment with rasburicase of a tophaceous gout in a patient allergic to allopurinol

Background A 56-year-old white woman was referred to our institution with a 16-month history of severe, gouty, recurrent, acute polyarthritis involving the finger joints. She also had numerous small subcutaneous tophi in her hands. The patient was intolerant to allopurinol and had mild renal insufficiency attributed to uric-acid nephrolithiasis and interstitial nephropathy.