BACKGROUND: In patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (HPTH) and previou
s thyroid operations, complications of parathyroidectomy are more frequent
than in patients undergoing initial neck surgery. The aim of this study was
to investigate the value of preoperative imaging with regard to its influe
nce on the surgical strategy.
METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 17 patients with primary HPTH and prev
ious thyroid surgery. Preoperatively 16 patients underwent sonography and/o
r scintigraphy.
RESULTS: Sonography had an overall accuracy to correctly localize enlarged
parathyroid glands of 80%, and scintiscanning had overall accuracy of 78.6%
. The accuracy of localization was increased up to 84.6% if both diagnostic
procedures were applied. In patients with normal thyroid residues the accu
racy of sonography was 85.7%, and it was 100% if scintiscanning was used.
CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative localization techniques in patients with primary
HPTH and previous thyroid surgery have high accuracy. This allows for an im
aging-directed operative strategy, thus preventing unnecessary bilateral ne
ck explorations, which carry a high risk of recurrent laryngeal nerve injur
y. (C) 1999 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.