Tophaceous gout is a very severe type form of gout. If a person is showing certain symptoms of gout and if he does not treat it for a long time, the gout may develop into Tophaceous gout. In Tophaceous gout, the uric acid crystal deposits in the tissues increase so much that they form an aggregate nodular mass. This mass is called Tophi. This can occur in any of the soft tissues in the body and usually occurs in the fingers toes, elbow tips etc. however, it can occur in any part of the body. Tophaceous gout of cervical spine though very rare also occurs in some people.

Tophaceous gout of cervical spine is actually not expected but there are many cases of it every year. The excess uric acid crystals from the body of a patient deposit in the spine. The cartilages between the two adjacent vertebrae or at the joints between the vertebrae and ribs are the common sites of the deposition. After some deposition of these uric acid crystals, the patient starts showing the initial symptoms of gout. Some symptoms would be like mild pain in the back, or occasional stiffness at the later stages.
It is important to diagnose and treat him at this stage itself.

However if this is not done the deposits go on increasing finally turn into larger aggregates of uric acid crystals. At this stage, the symptoms of gout would become more severe. The nodular masses of uric acid crystals cause great interference in the functioning of the joints. The cartilages become hard due to these deposits. Their supply of nutrition and oxygen is blocked and therefore the cartilage starts deteriorating. As the cartilages play a very important role in the spine, the whole spine is thus affected.

There is no effective treatment for Tophaceous gout in the very advanced stages. The only thing that can be done then is to remove the affected part of the spine, which is very difficult in case of spine. Therefore, it is important that it should be detected and treated as early as possible. However, Tophaceous gout does not show any symptoms in the initial stages and therefore the patient will show only the symptoms of gout.

Therefore, whenever the patient shows any symptoms of gout in the back it should be taken seriously. He should undergo immediate diagnosis, and take treatment and control measures.