J. Taillandier et al., PREOPERATIVE LOCALIZATION OF PARATHYROID ADENOMAS - VALUE OF CERVICALULTRASONOGRAPHY, La Presse medicale, 23(3), 1994, pp. 116-120
Objectives : We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of cervical
ultrasonography for the detection of primary parathyroid adenomas. Met
hods : From January 1990 to May 1992, ultrasonography was performed be
fore exploratory cervicotomy in 30 patients (10 males, 20 females, mea
n age 56.3 yr) whose diagnosis was primary hyperparathyroidism based o
n radioimmunoassay of parathyroid hormone. The same trained operator p
erformed all the ultrasonographic examinations. Results : Twenty-six p
arathyroid tumours were detected in 23 of the 30 patients examined by
ultrasonography. The four standard localizations and one ectopic tumou
r were visualied. At surgery 37 tumeurs were found in 30 patients. Amo
ng the 11 false negatives, the operator had identified an abnormal tum
our incorrectly as a cervical lymph node in 2. Most of the false negat
ives occurred early in the study. The sensitivity of ultrasonography w
as thus 70 % with a 100 % specificity. Conclusions: Cervical ultrasono
graphy is a reliable, non-invasive and relatively inexpensive examinat
ion which should be used as a first-line test for the aetiological ass
essment of hyperparathyroidism.