[Giant parathyroid carcinoma: diagnostic difficulties and therapeutic strategies]

Parathyroid carcinoma is a very rare malignancy responsible for 0.4 to 5.2% of hyperparathyroidism. Clinical diagnosis is difficult and treatment should be codified. Surgery is the only curative treatment. We report the case of a female patient treated for malignancy-associated hypercalcemia revealing parathyroid carcinoma. The patient underwent surgery; after three months she developed lymphatic recurrence. Given the absence of other secondary involvement, bilateral lymph node dissection followed by chemotherapy was performed. Parathyroid carcinoma is often suspected on the basis of biological, radiological and especially intraoperative macroscopic criteria, but definitive diagnosis is made histopathologically. Surgery is currently the only curative treatment and the role of adjuvant therapy is to establish.