[Phenobarbital rheumatism associated with gouty arthritis. Case report with 18-month follow-up].

Anticonvulsivant-induced rheumatism has been described in the literature mostly in relation to phenobarbital therapy. We report the case of an 85-year-old male affected by generalized seizures and treated with phenobarbital for some months, who came to our observation on account of a long-lasting arthropathy which was diagnosed as unknown gouty arthritis. After treatment however, a clinical picture of shoulder-hand syndrome persisted: this latter disappeared after substitution of phenobarbital with phenytoin. The association of a syndrome of rheumatism induced by barbiturates with gouty arthritis has not been previously described in the literature.