Published In
European Journal of Rheumatology
Volume 13 · Issue 1
Pages: 1-2
History
Published Online: April 14, 2026
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2026 European Journal of Rheumatology
Ahmad Jasem Abdulsalam
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mubarak Alkabeer Hospital, Jabriya, Kuwait
Wei-Ting Wu
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Community and Geriatric Research Center, National Taiwan University Hospital, Bei-Hu Branch, Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
Ke-Vin Chang
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Community and Geriatric Research Center, National Taiwan University Hospital, Bei-Hu Branch, Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; Center for Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Wang-Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
Abdulsalam, A. J., Wu, W.-T., & Chang, K.-V. (2026). No More Blind Betting (With Ultrasound), When Rolling the Dice on Crystal Arthropathy!. European Journal of Rheumatology, 13(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.5152/eurjrheum.2026.25059
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Abstract
Emergency physicians routinely treat acute arthritis with anti-inflammatory medications and discharge patients with the diagnosis of gout. However, when patients return days later with worsening symptoms, the probability of it involving calcium pyrophosphate crystals requiring completely different management prevails.
Crystal misdiagnosis has its consequences. Research shows up to 40% of patients diagnosed with gout actually have pseudogout (calcium pyrophosphate crystal arthropathy) when properly analyzed.1 This misidentification leads to treatment failure in over 60% of cases, with patients receiving colchicine for presumed gout when they actually need anti-inflammatory therapy for calcium pyrophosphate arthropathy.
Article Info
Published In
Journal
European Journal of Rheumatology
Volume / Issue
Volume 13 · Issue 1
Pages
1-2
History
Published Online
April 14, 2026
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright
Copyright (c) 2026 European Journal of Rheumatology
Affiliations
Ahmad Jasem Abdulsalam
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mubarak Alkabeer Hospital, Jabriya, Kuwait
Wei-Ting Wu
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Community and Geriatric Research Center, National Taiwan University Hospital, Bei-Hu Branch, Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
Ke-Vin Chang
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Community and Geriatric Research Center, National Taiwan University Hospital, Bei-Hu Branch, Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; Center for Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Wang-Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
Cite this Article
Abdulsalam, A. J., Wu, W.-T., & Chang, K.-V. (2026). No More Blind Betting (With Ultrasound), When Rolling the Dice on Crystal Arthropathy!. European Journal of Rheumatology, 13(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.5152/eurjrheum.2026.25059
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