The basic cause of gout is hypericemia, which is an abnormal elevation in the uric acid level in the body. This is undesirable because the excess of uric acid cannot remain in the blood and therefore it starts depositing in different parts of the body. Commonly deposition occurs in kidneys and different joints of the body. The deposition in the joints is called gout. Surgery is used for gout treatment however; it is used only for removing the damaged part of the joint. It cannot cure gout. Therefore, only medications are effective options available for curing gout.
There are several substances, which are tried out as gout medications. Among the very recently used substances are febuxostat and puricase.
Recently studies were conducted over the use of febuxostat and it was found out that it was capable of bringing down the level of uric acid. It acts as an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, which is responsible for production of uric acid from purines.
Febuxostat can be given in the form of oral drugs. A quantity of around 100mg per day is required and within a few weeks, it successfully brings down the uric acid level to below than 8.0mg/dL. It does not just temporarily reduce the uric acid level but it also maintains it so.
Febuxostat has been approved by the regulating bodies in the countries as the United States.
On the other hand, puricase is a drug, which actually combines with the uric acid from the body. It is a pegylated recombinant urate oxidase. Because of this property is a very useful option among the gout medications.
Its use as one of the gout medications offers a number of advantages. It can be used at the later stages of gout the levels are high enough for causing deposition. It is useful when all the other methods to keep down the uric acid level fail. It has an immediate effect and therefore it can be used as an option to prevent the probable gout attack.
Both of the drugs febuxostat and puricase have emerged as a great relief for the patient of gout. The other gout medications as allopurinol do not have a good success rate and therefore most of the times nothing can be done to relieve prevent the possible gout attack. Febuxostat and puricase both have much better success rates. Moreover, they do not have any serious side effects. Their prices are within the reach of the common person.
