[Parathyroid gland cancer. Problems in diagnosis and therapy]

Parathyroid carcinoma occurs in 0.1 to 5% as the cause of primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT). It is difficult to determine the true incidence, because parathyroid carcinoma is diagnosed too often due to unreliable histologic criteria. It is only justified to make the diagnosis, when a local recurrence or metastases with the clinical picture of a recurrent or persistent HPT occurred. Treatment of choice is the initial en-bloc resection, which may result in long disease-free intervals. Pharmacological treatment, chemotherapy, and radiation are mostly ineffective in the treatment of parathyroid carcinoma. A satisfactory long-term palliation can only be achieved with repeated resections of the local recurrences and metastases. Diagnostic efforts should be made to localize the recurrent tumor before every reoperation, whereby ultrasonography of the neck is the most sensitive procedure. Occasionally the parathyroid tissue cannot be identified in spite of preoperative diagnostic studies or hypercalcemia persists after surgery. In these cases forced diuresis and medical treatment with calcitonin, diphosphonates or mithramycine can briefly control hypercalcemia. The clinical courses of 3 patients with metastasizing parathyroid carcinoma are presented and discussed. In these patients 3 to 11 surgical interventions were performed in combination with an intermittent medical treatment. By this regimen we achieved long-term palliations up to 13 years.