[The diagnosis and surgical management of parathyroid cysts]

Six cases of parathyroid cysts were treated in our hospital during a ten--year period with an incidence of 0.27% of the total patients operated on for neck mass. Four females and two males had an average age of 47.5 years with a history of the disease from 3 monts to 30 years. All patients had a single cyst ranging in size from 2.7 to 7.0 cm in diameter, arising in the region of inferior parathyroid gladms. Five caese of asymptomatic neck mass were nonfunctioning cysts, which where thin--walled and contained clear watery fluid. One case associated with hyperparathyroidism was classified as functioning cyst confirmed histologically as parathyroid adenoma with intracapsular hemorrhage. Surgical excision was made in all cases and postoperative recovery was uneventful. The importance of imaging studies, percutaneous biopsy, and cyst fluid assay for PTH in preoperative diagnosis was emphasized.