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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Generation of Hypoparathyroid Rats via Carbon-Nanoparticle-Assisted Parathyroidectomy
Published on: July 14, 2023
Unexpected serum parathyroid hormone profiles in some patients with primary hyperparathyroidism
Philippe Boudou1, Fidaa Ibrahim, Catherine Cormier
1Department of Hormonal Biology, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris, France. philippe.boudou@sls.aphp.fr
Background:
Third-generation parathyroid hormone (PTH) assays have been reported to measure only intact PTH(1-84), in contrast to second-generation assays, which also detect PTH(7-84) fragments. Higher PTH measurements were observed with third- than with second-generation PTH assays in a few patients with either severe primary hyperparathyroidism or parathyroid carcinoma.
Methods:
We analyzed biological data [second- and third-generation PTH assays, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD), calcium, and phosphate concentrations] obtained before and after surgery for 2 groups of patients selected from a large series of consecutive patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT): 7 female patients with surgically and histologically confirmed PHPT (group 1) and a matched group (group 2).
Results:
For group 1 but not group 2, PTH concentrations measured by third-generation PTH assays before surgery were higher than those measured by the second-generation assays. Circulating 25-OHD, calcium, and phosphate concentrations were similar in both groups. In addition, PTH values measured with the third-generation PTH assays in group 1 decreased after surgery.
Conclusions:
Our results confirm that third-generation PTH assays do not measure only PTH(1-84). The frequency of this unexpected finding of markedly lower PTH concentrations than previously reported was approximately 5% in patients with PHPT without malignancy. We do not know whether the presence of this unexpected profile is predictive of malignancy.
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