Proliferative Lesions of Parathyroid Glands: An Update for Practicing Pathologists

Pathological lesions of parathyroid glands encompass a wide range of lesions ranging from developmental anomalies to inflammatory disorders to neoplastic processes. Proliferative lesions of parathyroid glands represent the commonest causes of hyperparathyroidism in clinical practice. However, the parathyroid specimens represent only a tiny fraction of the workload received in a non-specialist histopathology laboratory. As a result, the familiarity of the pathologists with the spectrum of parathyroid lesions is generally limited. An accurate diagnosis of the parathyroid lesions is challenging and a daunting task for both the clinicians and the pathologists. The traditional morphological approaches have limitations. Ancillary techniques of immunohistochemistry and molecular biology are being increasingly employed to resolve the diagnostic dilemmas. This review briefly describes the proliferative pathological lesions affecting the parathyroid glands and provides some useful tips on accurately diagnosing these lesions.