[Outpatient surgical treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism]

The standard of care for primary hyperparathyroidism is minimally invasive surgical removal of hyperfunctional parathyroid tissue. Abroad, this minimally invasive approach is often performed in the ambulatory setting. Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism are eligible for outpatient surgery if the risk of conducting the operation is low and various imaging techniques have confirmed the location of the parathyroid adenoma. Of 20 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism who had been treated at our hospital's day surgery department, 5 visited the emergency department the next day because of a tingling sensation; however, minor hypocalcaemia was observed in only 1 of these patients. This relatively high number of emergency-department visits may have been the result of the strict instructions given to the patients or a rapid fall in their serum calcium levels, even without this having resulted in hypocalcaemia. Calcium supplementation is affordable and safe and could reduce the number of visits to the emergency ward after outpatient treatment of hyperparathyroidism.