ABSTRACT
Parathyroid surgery was performed on 50 patients following thallium-technetium subtraction scanning. Parathyroid adenomata were correctly localized in 34 (83%). Of eight patients with hyperplastic glands, 15 (75%) of these glands were correctly localized. There were seven (17%) false negative scans and one (2%) false positive result. Thallium-technetium subtraction scanning is a valuable technique in the pre-operative assessment of patients with clinical evidence of hyperparathyroidism.
Subject(s)
Adenoma/diagnostic imaging , Hyperparathyroidism/diagnostic imaging , Parathyroid Glands/diagnostic imaging , Parathyroid Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Radioisotopes , Subtraction Technique , Technetium , Thallium , Adenoma/complications , Adenoma/surgery , Humans , Hyperparathyroidism/etiology , Hyperplasia , Parathyroid Glands/pathology , Parathyroid Glands/surgery , Parathyroid Neoplasms/complications , Parathyroid Neoplasms/surgery , Radionuclide ImagingABSTRACT
The incidental finding of hypercalcaemia during multi-channel screening was the initiating event in 33 (45 per cent) of 79 consecutive cases of surgically treated primary hyperparathyroidism. This subgroup was asymptomatic as defined. Although significant biochemical differences existed between symptomatic and asymptomatic cases, a range of metabolic indices of bone turnover fell postoperatively in almost all asymptomatic subjects, although initially abnormal in only 35 per cent. Achievement of normocalcaemia was significantly surgeon-dependent.