Spinal gout mimicking paraspinal abscess: A case report

Gout is usually thought of as a peripheral joint disease. However, case reports are available describing gouty lesions in the spine. We report a case of a 51 year old African American woman with no previous history of gout who presented with lower back pain and fever and was found to have multiple small fluid collections in the paraspinal muscles at the L3 to L5 levels on the MRI. She was empirically treated with antibiotics, since the fluid was not accessible for drainage initially. Unsuccessful antibiotic therapy and an episode of peripheral gout during this hospitalization prompted the diagnosis of axial gout as the cause for the paraspinal lesions in this patient. CT guided aspiration of the paraspinal lesions confirmed monosodium urate (gout) crystals under polarized microscopy.