title: Prevalence of birefringent crystals in cardiac and prostatic tissues, an observational study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of urate crystals in residual tissue samples from coronary arteries, aortic valves and prostate glands was assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Alcohol-fixed coronary arteries from 55 explanted hearts, alcohol-fixed aortic valves collected from 75 valve replacement surgeries and 40 frozen, unfixed prostate specimens resected during cancer surgery were examined for birefringent crystals with polarising microscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the 55 explanted hearts, 6 (10.9%) contained a coronary artery with birefringent crystals. One of the 75 aortic valves (1.4%) contained negatively and positively birefringent crystals. Nineteen of the 40 (47.5%) prostates contained birefringent crystals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that a remarkable percentage of coronary arteries and prostate specimens contained birefringent crystals. Crystal presence is an obvious prerequisite for possible crystal induced-inflammation in these tissues, just as similar crystals elicit a gouty inflammatory cascade in synovial joints. Further studies are necessary to determine whether urate crystals may play this role in these tissues and, if so, to establish whether urate-lowering therapy may be beneficial in prostatitis and coronary disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine (Rheumatology), University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Jane J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Ventana Medical Systems Inc, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Martine P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Roudier
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine (Rheumatology), University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Divya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Soman
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery (Cardiothoracic Surgery), University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Nahush A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Mokadam
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine (Rheumatology), University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Simkin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001011:Aorta / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000473:pathology; D001718:Birefringence; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000473:pathology; D003460:Crystallization; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D011467:Prostate / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D011472:Prostatitis / Q000473:pathology; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014527:Uric Acid