Gout in liver transplant patients receiving tacrolimus

DISCUSSION In a large series of patients who had received a liver allograft, hyperuricaemia was detected in about half, in both cyclosporin and tacrolimus treated patients. 4 It was assumed that both drugs can impair renal uric acid excretion. 3, 4 In our series of liver transplant recipients receiving tacrolimus, gout was directly related to tacrolimus treatment in two. In case No 2, it is unlikely that her glycogen storage disease could have been a favouring factor for gout because liver transplantation cures the metabolic abnormalities associated with such disease. 7 Although no case of gout has been found in the series of patients receiving liver transplants reported by Taillandier et al, 8 gout was diagnosed in 6% of the series of Neal et al. 4 Although until now cyclosporin has been considered to be the main cause of gout in transplant recipients, our study supports the idea that tacrolimus can similarly induce gout.