Claes Rudberg

High Success Rate of Parathyroid Reoperation may be Achieved with Improved Localization Diagnosis

IntroductionBecause of the difficulty of reoperative parathyroid surgery, preoperative imaging studies have been increasingly adopted. We report the use of consistently applied localization diagnosis to yield high success rates in parathyroid reoperations.MethodsParathyroid reoperation was performed after previous parathyroid surgery in 144 patients with nonmalignant hyperparathyroidism (HPT) between 1962 and 2007. From the year 2000, 46 patients who underwent parathyroid reoperation and 14 patients who were subjected to thyroid surgery before primary parathyroid operation were investigated with sestamibi scintigraphy (MIBI), 11C-methionine PET/CT (met-PET), surgeon-performed ultrasound (US), US-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (US-FNA), and selective venous sampling (SVS) with rapid PTH (Q-PTH) analyses. When imaging was considered adequate, additional studies were generally not obtained.ResultsReversal of hypercalcemia was achieved by reoperation in 134 of 144 (93%) of all patients with previous parathyroid surgery. In patients operated from year 2000, MIBI had 90% sensitivity and 88% predictive value, met-PET 79% sensitivity and 87% predictive value, and US 72% sensitivity and 93% predictive value. SVS with Q-PTH analyses provided accurate localization or regionalization in 11 of 11 recently selected patients. Q-PTH analyses in fine-needle aspirations verified parathyroid origin of excised specimens, and intraoperative Q-PTH helped decide when operations could be terminated. In patients subjected to the algorithm of imaging procedures, reversal of hypercalcemia and apparent cure was obtained after the reoperation in 45 of 46 patients with previous parathyroid surgery, implying a success rate of 98%, and in all patients with previous thyroid surgery.ConclusionsReoperative parathyroid surgery is challenging. Results can be improved by consistently applied sensitive methods of preoperative imaging, and reoperative procedures may then achieve nearly the same success rates as primary operations.

Correlation between plasma calcium, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a community-based cohort of men and women.

Context  In recent years, an association has been noted between several abnormalities that characterize the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT). These abnormalities include dyslipidaemia, obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension. The correlations between plasma calcium, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and the variables in the MetS in a normal population are still unclear.

Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism operated on over a 24-year period: Temporal trends of clinical and laboratory findings☆

Temporal trends of clinical and laboratory data of 441 patients operated upon for primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT) during 1956-1979 were analysed retrospectively. There was a marked increase in the number of operations for HPT during that time period, from 32 during 1956-1964 to 326 in 1970-1979. In parallel there was a decrease in the proportion of patients with classical manifestations of HPT such as renal stones or bone disease, the latter being on the whole rarely seen in this population. The increased number of operations was instead largely attributable to the more frequent diagnosis of HPT in patients with vague psychiatric or neuromuscular symptoms or with no clinical manifestations; the majority of these persons were older women, the proportion of operations in women 45 years of age or older, increasing from 56% during 1956-64 to 71% during 1970-79. The increased number of operations for HPT during the last decades should be mainly the consequence of a greater awareness of the disease.

Histological and clinical features of non-familial primary parathyroid hyperplasia

Relations between histopathological characteristics and clinical data were retrospectively investigated in patients with sporadic primary hyperparathyroidism due to hyperplasia. The study comprised 100 patients with chief cell hyperplasia and nine with hyperplasia of the water-clear cell type operated on during the period of 1959-1989. The chief cell hyperplasia was associated with a renal stone disorder as the predominant symptom in 41 patients, psychiatric/neuromuscular manifestations in 26 patients, while 23 patients were apparently asymptomatic. The remaining ten patients had miscellaneous symptoms. Patients with renal stones were more frequently of the male sex and generally had lower serum calcium values and less marked increments in total parathyroid glandular weights than patients with other symptoms or those who were overtly asymptomatic. Two main morphological patterns, diffuse and nodular hyperplasia, were encountered in chief cell hyperplasia. Diffuse hyperplasia was usually found in moderately enlarged glands, with a less variable size and morphology. It was also more prevalent among young patients having moderate hypercalcaemia and either recurrent renal stones or neuromuscular/psychiatric symptoms. The glands affected by nodular hyperplasia were asymmetric in size with a variable cellular arrangement and a high proportion of oxyphil cells. Nodular hyperplasia was irrespective of symptoms more frequent in the elderly patients. Water-clear cell hyperplasia was not encountered during the last decade of the study and until then it was an occasional finding in patients with marked hypercalcaemia. In this histological entity the glands were greatly and asymmetrically enlarged.