Total parathyroidectomy and delayed parathyroid autotransplantation using a simplified cryopreservation technique: human and animal studies.

Following earlier studies using a simplified cryopreservation method in rats, we report the successful use of this technique in a hemodialysis patient who had previously undergone total parathyroidectomy. In additional studies, parathyroid glands from rats were conserved by this rapid freezing procedure after total parathyroidectomy. Six weeks after parathyroid autotransplantation the animals were submitted to a low-calcium diet and their parathyroid gland function compared to that of rats that had previously undergone sham operation, immediate autotransplantation, or delayed autotransplantation using the classical cryopreservation method. With both cryopreservation techniques, plasma calcium, phosphorus, and 1,25 (OH)2 vitamin D concentrations after low-calcium diet were similar although results were less satisfactory than with immediate autotransplantation or after sham operation. We suggest that this simplified cryopreservation technique, developed in rats, yields functioning parathyroid gland tissue and can be successfully used in the human.