recognized as a clinical entity. First identified by the Egyptians in 2640 BC, podagra (acute gout occurring in the first metatarsophalangeal joint) was later recognized by Hippocrates in the fifth century BC (Schwartz, 1886), who referred to it as 'the unwalkable disease '. Some of Hippocrates ' remarkable clinical perceptions in relation to gout are preserved in aphorisms, which are as true today as they were 2500 years ago (Galen et al., 1929). Hippocrates also noted the link between the disease and an intemperate lifestyle, referring to podagra as an 'arthritis of the rich ', as opposed to rheumatism, an arthritis of the poor. Six centuries later, Galen was the first to describe tophi, the crystallized monosodium urate deposits that can follow longstanding hyperuricemia. Galen associated gout with …show more content…
The first person to use the word 'gout ' to describe podagra (gutta quam podagram vel artiticam vocant – 'the gout that is called podagra or arthritis ') was the Dominican monk Randolphus of