Persistence of primary hyperparathyroidism: a single-center experience.

BACKGROUND: Parathyroidectomy is the only definitive treatment for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). Precise localization of abnormal glands is a key to a successful surgery. Most patients are expected to be successfully treated with focused parathyroidectomy. However, this approach is associated with a risk of existing multiglandular disease which may lead to the postoperative persistence of PHPT. METHODS: Eight hundred ten patients who underwent an initial surgery for PHPT at SPBU Hospital in 2017-2018 were included in the study. Preoperative imaging results were evaluated. Multivariate logistic regressions were calculated to estimate predictive values of preoperative data for the risk of postoperative persistence and risk of MGD. RESULTS: Multiglandular disease was found to be a leading cause of persistent hyperparathyroidism. An anamnesis of thyroid surgery was found to be a significant risk factor for the persistence of hyperparathyroidism. The rate of persistence did not differ significantly between groups with bilateral neck exploration and focused parathyroidectomy. Age, sex, body mass index as well as negative results of preoperative US, MIBI, and 4D CT were not independently associated with a higher risk of MGD. All preoperative imaging modalities showed from low to moderate sensitivity for the detection of MGD. The frequency of cases of a missed second adenoma did not differ significantly between patients with concordant and discordant preoperative data. There were 7 cases with previously unsuspected second adenomas found solely due to bilateral neck exploration. CONCLUSIONS: None of the combination of preoperative visualization modalities was able to rule out the MGD and reliably identify patients for focused parathyroidectomy. Additional preoperative visualization failed to improve overall results. Bilateral neck exploration appeared to have a slight benefit for the patients with concordant preoperative imaging results.

Clarifying optimal outcome measures in intermittent and continuous laryngeal neuromonitoring.

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) techniques have evolved over the past decade into intermittent IONM (I-IONM) and continuous IONM (C-IONM) modes of application. Despite many prior publications on both types of IONM, there remains uncertainty about what outcomes should be measured for each form of IONM. The primary objective of this paper is to define categories of benefit for I-IONM/C-IONM and to clarify and standardize their reporting outcomes. METHODS: Expert review consensus statement utilizing modified Delphi methodology. RESULTS: I-IONM provides diagnosis, classification, and prevention of nerve injury through accurate and early nerve identification. C-IONM provides real-time information on nerve functional integrity and thus may prevent some types of nerve injury but cannot assist in nerve localization. Sudden mechanisms of nerve injury cannot be predicted or prevented by either technique. CONCLUSIONS: I-IONM and C-IONM are complementary techniques. Future studies evaluating the utility of IONM should focus on outcomes that are appropriate to the type of IONM being utilized.

[Peculiarity of recovery of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (hpg) axis, in men after using androgenic anabolic steroids].

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous recovery of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axis after cessation of testosterone replacement therapy or after male contraception may take up to 24 months. There is insufficient data on the duration of recovery of HPG axis after abuse of androgenic anabolic steroids (AAS). AAS users use post-cycle therapy (PCT) to restore HPG axis, the effectiveness of which is unknown and needs further investigation. AIMS: To evaluate the recovery of HPG axis in men, AAS users, after a 3-month of cessation of their use and after PCT. METHODS: An observational, single-center, prospective, sampling, open, uncontrolled study was conducted among male AAS users. While using of AAS and 3 months after the refusal of their administration and PCT, the clinical symptoms of hypogonadism were evaluated, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), total testosterone (Tt), prolactin, estradiol, inhibin B, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were determined. The scheme of rehabilitation therapy was the same and did not change throughout the study. Recovery criteria: Tt >3.4 ng/ml and LH >1.24 mIU/ml. The study was conducted from January to August 2019. Fisher’s exact test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient were used. The differences were considered statistically significant at p<0.05. RESULTS: The study included 44 men, their age 29 years [27.75; 34], the duration of the use of AAS is 6 months [3.52; 7]. During the use of AAS: LH 0.2 mIU/ml [0.04; 0.47], Tt — 4.34 ng/ml [1.05; 8.81]. In this group, the number of men with a LH level <1.24 mIU / ml was 84% (n=37) and Tt <3.4 ng/ml was 47.7% (n=21). After 3 months, the LH level reached 4.12 mIU/ml [2.58; 5.84], Tt — 4.55 ng/ml [3.76; 6.24]. At the same time, the level of Tt <3.4 ng/ml remained in 20.5% (n=9), and LH <1.24 mIU/ml in 4.5% (n=2) men. According to the level of recovery of LH and Tt, patients were divided into two groups: with satisfying (n=35; 79.5%) and poor (n=9; 20.5%) recovery. A clear correlation was established between the duration of use (-0.857; p<0.0001), the amount (-0.443; p=0.003), the dose (-0.7825; p<0.0001), the type of AAS (-0.698; p<0.0001) and testosterone level recovery. A correlation between inhibin B and Tt (0.418; p=0.005) was revealed. CONCLUSIONS: A three-month refusal to use AAS with PCT led to the restoration of HPG axis a in 79.5% of the volunteers. In 20.5% of cases, recovery did not occur. The negative effect of the duration of use, the number of simultaneously administered drugs, their dose and type of AAS on the restoration of HPG axis was established. The level of inhibin B may serve as a marker for the restoration of spermatogenic epithelium.

Transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography (TLUS) as an alternative to direct flexible laryngoscopy (DFL) in the perioperative evaluation of the vocal cord mobility in thyroid surgery.

PURPOSE: Direct flexible laryngoscopy (DFL) is the golden standard to evaluate the vocal cord (VC) function in thyroid and parathyroid surgery pre- and postoperatively. Transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography (TLUS) could represent an alternative to the DFL and has been evaluated in the present study comparing the results of both methods performed at two referral centers for endocrine pathologies. METHODS: In the setting of a retrospective study, 668 patients (560 female, 118 male; mean age 50.3 ± 14.2) were included from two tertiary referral centers of endocrine surgery. In all patients, TLUS was performed pre- and postoperatively prior to transnasal DFL, which served as a golden standard. TLUS was performed by B-scan (probe 5-13 MHz, aperture 40 mm). RESULTS: Preoperative visualization of the vocal cords by TLUS was possible in 526 patients (78.7%). Due to the frequent thyroid cartilage calcification (TCC) in male patients, a significant difference in the visualization rate was found between female and male (88.7% vs. 26.8%) [p < 0.0001]. Additionally, the visualization rate was inversely related to the patient's age [p < 0.001]. The sensitivity of preoperative TLUS was found to be 66.7%, the specificity 100%. DFL confirmed a postoperative palsy in 34 out of 40 patients with supposed abnormal vocal cord mobility at TLUS and demonstrated a palsy in four more cases with supposed regular mobility at TLUS. Therefore, the sensitivity of postoperative TLUS was 86%, the specificity of 99.1%, positive predictive value 89.4%, negative predictive value 98.7%. CONCLUSIONS: TLUS could represent an alternative for the evaluation of vocal cords mobility. This method has the potential to replace the DFL in the majority of cases, especially in female patients. Nevertheless, DFL is still necessary in about 20% of the patients with failed visualization at TLUS.