[Surgery of primary hyperparathyroidism]

Surgery of primary hyperparathyroidism. Primary hyperparathyroidism is usually caused by a single parathyroid adenoma, rarely by multiple adenomas or hyperplasia and in 1-2% of cases by carcinoma. The definitive cure of the disease can be achieved only by surgical means. Unfortunately, only 10% of expected cases based on the number of population are diagnosed in Hungary. The main reason is that the disease has no specific symptoms and it causes only a few cases present with clinical entities such as nephrolithiasis, osteoporosis-osteopenia, pancreatitis, hypertension, peptic ulcer disease, depression, etc. The clue to the diagnosis of primary hyperparathyroidism is usually the laboratory result of hypercalcemia and in order to this aim the measurement of serum Ca would be an obligatory part of routine laboratory investigation in Hungary. The diagnosis of primary hyperparathyroidism rests on the laboratory confirmation of increased serum calcium and inappropriately elevated intact parathyroid hormone concentrations. If surgical intervention is planned, cervical ultrasonography and parathyroid-scintigraphy are indicated for the exact localization of hyperfunctioning parathyroid gland(s). CT and/or MRI are usually not necessary, except in cases of previous neck operation. The operation must be performed by surgeon skilled in parathyroid surgery. The surgical success can be assessed intraoperatively by the use of a gamma probe or by intraoperative measurement of parathyroid hormone concentrations in the serum or in the removed tissue(s). Support of these procedures is recommended. Although many recent publications deal with the minimal invasive methods of parathyroidectomy, the cost-effectiveness of these newer techniques are controversial.