Parathyroidectomy. Review of 338 consecutive cases for histology, location, and reoperation.

Three hundred thirty-eight consecutive parathyroidectomies for hyperparathyroidism were performed over a 22 year period. There were 53 dialysis patients (31 male and 22 female), 285 patients (165 female and 120 male) with primary hyperparathyroidism, 55 patients (19 percent) with parathyroid hyperplasia, and 230 patients with 236 parathyroid adenomas. The location of the adenomas were right upper in 57, right lower in 59, left upper in 60, and left lower in 60. Forty-three patients of the last 194 operated on had histories of childhood head and neck irradiation (21.6 percent), 34 patients (79.6 percent) had associated thyroid disease, and there were 10 with thyroid carcinomas. In the 285 patients, 54 percent had thyroid disease, and 18 had thyroid carcinomas. Twenty-three patients required reoperation for persistent or recurrent hypercalcemia, and 19 neck reexplorations and 6 mediastinotomies were performed. The identification and biopsy as indicated of all four parathyroid glands at initial neck exploration would have prevented over 70 percent of reoperations.