Diagnosis of recurrent hyperparathyroidism: comparison of MR imaging and other imaging techniques

Several reports have indicated good results with MR imaging of hyperparathyroidism. However, its use in recurrent hyperparathyroidism has not been assessed separately. Thirty patients with recurrent hyperparathyroidism were evaluated by MR with both T1- and T2-weighted images. Twenty-six and 23 of these patients, respectively, also had thallium-201 scintigraphy and high-resolution sonography. For the 28 patients who eventually had surgical exploration and histologic evidence of adenoma (21 cases) or hypoplasia (seven cases), MR accurately located abnormal parathyroid glands in 75% evaluated prospectively and 89% evaluated retrospectively. Scintigraphy located 68% prospectively and 76% retrospectively. Sonography detected 57% prospectively and 67% retrospectively. For patients undergoing three studies, the prospective and retrospective detection rate was significantly better (p less than .05) for MR compared with sonography but was not significantly different for MR and scintigraphy. MR detected three of four mediastinal adenomas evaluated prospectively and retrospectively. One false-positive case was seen with MR, one with scintigraphy, and one with sonography. Thus, MR can be used to locate abnormal parathyroid tissue at a rate equal to or better than scintigraphy or sonography.