Jaw tumor in primary hyperparathyroidism is not always a brown tumor.

Primary hyperparthyrodism (PHPT) is a common endocrine disease. It results from an inappropriate parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion relative to serum ionized calcium level. Clinical manifestation of severe PHPT include bone disease called osteitis fibrosa cystica which reflects an increase osteoclastic resorption and osteoblastic activity. This high bone turnover is responsible of the occurrence of osteoclastomas, also named "brown tumors" (1). Rarely, PHPT may occur in inherited forms with association to fibrous jaw tumor that are unrelated to hyperparathyroidism. In this uncommon disease: hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor (HPT-JT) syndrome, parathyroid tumor is frequently malignant and usually associated with nonendocrine malignancies (2). We report a case of a HPT-JT syndrome to focus on the differential diagnosis with brown tumors.