Re: Evaluation of Parathyroid Glands with Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Angiography After Thyroidectomy

Abstract

Hypoparathyroidism remains the most common complication after thyroidectomy with reported rates of about 30% for transient hypoparathyroidism and over 5% for definitive hypoparathyroidism in population-based registries [1]. Until very recently, the prevention of post-thyroidectomy hypoparathyroidism was based on anatomical knowledge of the possible locations of the parathyroid glands and their vascularization, careful dissection and visual evaluation of their perfusion after thyroid resection (sometimes with an incision of the parathyroid gland), allowing auto-transplantation of visually non-well-perfused glands. As evidenced by the high rate of transient and definitive hypoparathyroidism, the performance of these procedures was rather poor. New tools have become available to help decrease the risk of hypoparathyroidism.