OLD-AGE IS NOT A CONTRAINDICATION FOR SURGERY IN PATIENTS WITH PRIMARY HYPERPARATHYROIDISM

Objective: Neck exploration for hyperparathyroidism is sometimes withh eld from elderly patients out of concern for the risks. The question w hether this concern is founded in fact was examined in a consecutive s eries of 18 patients aged 70 years or older who were operated for prim ary hyperparathyroidism in the period 1988-1993. The patients were ref erred by 6 institutions. Results: Thirteen patients were considered sy mptomatic and 5 asymptomatic. The most common presenting symptoms were fatigue (n = 8), skeletal changes (n = 4), bone pain (n = 4) and poly uria (n = 4). Urolithiasis occurred in 2 patients. After operation wit h excision of all enlarged parathyroid glands serum calcium concentrat ions normalised in all patients. There was no mortality and the only c omplication was a late haematoma in a patient who used anticoagulants. The median postoperative hospital stay was 5 days (range 2-8 days). C onclusion: The high cure rate, the low morbidity, the low mortality an d the short hospital stay favor neck exploration as the treatment of c hoice also in the elderly patient.