PRIMARY HYPERPARATHYROIDISM IN INFANCY - A CASE-REPORT

Primary hyperparathyroidism is a rare disease of childhood. The condit ion is even rarer in the neonatal and infant stages. The disease, with its main manifestation-hypercalcemia-often is fatal. The authors succ essfully treated a 2.5-month-old boy who had primary parathyroid hyper plasia. The patient had recurrent pneumonia and failure to thrive. Blo od test results showed an abnormally high level of calcium, which was resistant to medical therapy. Further investigations showed high level s of parathyroid hormone. The patient underwent neck exploration, whic h showed hyperplasia of the all four parathyroid glands. Total parathy roidectomy was performed, with one gland being autotransplanted to the deltoid muscle. The patient had an immediate hypocalcemic period, fol lowed by normocalcemia. In light of the present case and others in the Literature, the authors recommend total parathyroidectomy followed by autotransplantation of a gland to an accessible muscle. Copyright (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company