Surgical therapy of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism: long-term benefits

Primary hyperparathyroidism was thought 30 years ago to be a rare disease, and the diagnosis was most often made in patients presenting with either bone disease or kidney stones. Today the minority of patients with hyperparathyroidism present with such symptoms, a fact accounted for by the introduction into general medical practice three decades ago of laboratory technology for efficiently determining the serum concentrations of various blood minerals, including calcium. Hypercalcemia was detected more frequently, and it was realized that most patients with hyperparathyroidism either had minor symptoms, such as constipation, polyuria, tiredness, and muscle weakness, or they were "asymptomatic" and indistinguishable from normal subjects. It was thought that primary hyperparathyroidism was a progressive disease and that sooner or later all patients would become symptomatic and require parathyroidectomy. Since this operation was curative in a high percentage of cases, it was recommended for virtually all patients once the diagnosis was established. In this contribution the long-term benefits of parathyroidectomy in patients with and without symptoms from primary hyperparathyroidism are reviewed. It is concluded that a multicenter prospective randomized trial is needed to resolve the indications for operative and nonoperative management of patients with this disease.