title: Tophaceous gout of the axial skeleton.
abstract: A 72-year-old female with a recent episode of podagra, without peripheral tophi, presented with nocturnal back pain and a destructive lesion of the right lamina of L4. A tophus was excised at laminectomy. Evidence of an axial skeletal tophus causing an irritative radiculopathy via mass effect is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Royal North Shore Hospital of Sydney.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Savvas
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ruff
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001416:Back Pain / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006073:Gout / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007796:Laminectomy; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology*