Pre-operative ultrasonography guiding minimal, selective surgical approach in primary hyperparathyroidism

The traditional surgical approach for the treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT) has been routine bilateral surgical exploration. Our aim was to evaluate pre-operative ultrasonography (U/S) in altering our practice to selective unilateral neck exploration.

A retrospective study was conducted involving 53 patients who had parathyroidectomy over a 5-year period (1989-1994), 41 of whom with the diagnosis of HPT had pre-operative neck U/S.

Thirty-eight patients had a single adenoma, one had parathyroid cancer, and two had multiple adenomas. Thirty-six of 41 (88%) patients were true positives, two (5%) false positives, two (5%) false negatives and one (2%) was true negative. Based on the surgeon's personal preference and U/S results, 21/41 (51%) of patients had bilateral and 20/41 (49%) had unilateral neck exploration. All the 41 patients had resolution of the hypercalcemia postoperatively. Eighteen of 38 (47%) patients with a single adenoma had bilateral neck exploration and only in two patients was this necessary.

Patients undergoing parathyroid surgery for HPT should have preoperative U/S and, if a single enlarged parathyroid gland is found, unilateral U/S guided neck exploration is safe and economical. In all the other patients, bilateral exploration is the preferred approach.