Guidelines for percutaneous ethanol injection therapy of the parathyroid glands in chronic dialysis patients.

Percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT) of the parathyroid was originally introduced as an alternative to surgical parathyroidectomy. After the recent elucidation of the pathogenesis of parathyroid hyperplasia in uraemia, 'selective PEIT of the parathyroid glands' was developed, in which enlarged parathyroid glands with nodular hyperplasia are 'selectively' destroyed by ethanol injection, and other glands with diffuse hyperplasia are then managed by medical therapy. The 'Guidelines for percutaneous ethanol injection therapy of the parathyroid glands in chronic dialysis patients' proposed by the Japanese Society for Parathyroid Intervention are presented, including indications, techniques, and post-PEIT management. These guidelines also apply to direct injection therapy using drugs other than ethanol, such as calcitriol and 22-oxacalcitriol.