[The parathyroid risk in thyroidectomy]

The authors report their experience of parathyroid risk in thyroid surgery on the basis of 1 188 thyroidectomies performed between 1973 and 1980. The benign thyroid pathology, the risk is negligeable, approximately 1%, though with the exception of operations for recurrence. In malignant tumour pathology, amongst 98 carcinomas treated by total thyroidectomy and mediastino-recurrent laryngeal lymph node dissection, the authors report an overall percentage of definitive major hypocalcaemia of 22.5%. Routine identification of the parathyroids at the start of the operation, at least on the healthy side, and care not to damage their vascular supply has made it possible to reduce the rate of hypoparathyroidism to 10% in the past two years. A study of anatomical dissection of 200 parathyroid glands with vascular injection is reported in the preamble. Finally, the authors analyse in the literature the results of parathyroid transplant and report their own experience.