Parathyroid Lipoadenoma: a Clinicopathological Diagnosis and Possible Trap for the Unaware Pathologist

The authors present clinicopathological features of parathyroid lipoadenoma in a 48-year-old woman who presented with symptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism manifesting with pathological fractures and osteoporosis. Preoperative sestamibi scan failed to localize the source of her disease. Exploratory surgery identified an enlarged parathyroid gland with abundant fat tissue. The significant drop of intraoperative serum parathyroid hormone after the removal of this gland and postoperative biochemical cure justified the presence of a single gland disease presenting as parathyroid lipoadenoma. From an educational perspective, the presented case emphasizes why the historical approach to parathyroid proliferations by assessing alone the ratio of parenchymal cells to adipocytes is not a reliable method in the diagnostic evaluation of parathyroid disease. While the accurate size and weight of a parathyroid gland are defining parameters of an abnormal gland, intraoperative and postoperative biochemical workup distinguishes uniglandular disease (adenoma) from multiglandular disease (hyperplasia). The authors also provide a brief review of the previously published cases of parathyroid lipoadenomas to highlight their clinicopathological characteristics of relevance to surgical pathologists.