Reoperative parathyroid surgery.

The increasing recognition of hypercalcaemia caused by primary hyperparathyroidism has led to a rise in the number of failed parathyroid exploration. We report a series of 37 parathyroid re-explorations on 33 patients with persistent hypercalcaemia following the failure of their previous parathyroid surgery. Of these patients, 27 have been cured of their hypercalcaemia but 7 are permanently hypocalcaemic. The results of the parathyroid localization tests used in this series are described, and the difficulties of reoperative parathyroid surgery are discussed. The reasons for failure of the original operations are analysed. Many are avoidable. Based on our experience strategies are described for parathyroid localization and reoperative surgery.