Background: Accurate preoperative localization is critical to the success of minimally invasive parathyroidectomy. This investigation aimed to assess the correlation among preoperative imaging results, intraoperative findings, and postoperative cure rates in patients undergoing operation for primary hyperparathyroidism.
Methods: A retrospective review of all patients who underwent operation for primary hyperparathyroidism between June 2010 and March 2016 was performed.
Results: During the study period, 398 patients underwent parathyroidectomy. The overall cure rate was 97.5%. The ultrasonography performed by the surgeon was superior to the ultrasonography performed by the radiologist and to the sestamibi scan in lateralizing the adenoma correctly (80% vs 62% vs 70%, P < .001, respectively), and had the greatest sensitivity (93%) and accuracy (80%) among all tests (P < .001). Age ≥65 was found to be associated with lesser cure rates (94% vs 99.2%, P = .003). The number of positive preoperative studies correlated with cure rate, ranging from 80% for patients with 0 positive studies, to 100% in those with 4 positive studies (P = .0004). In patients with a negative sestamibi and an ultrasonography performed by the radiologist, there was no significant difference in the cure rates among those with no preoperative computed tomography, a positive preoperative computed tomography, or a negative preoperative computed tomography.
Conclusion: An ultrasonography performed by an experienced surgeon is an extremely valuable preoperative localization modality. The cure rate obtained is proportional to the number of positive imaging studies. In patients with negative ultrasonography performed by a nonexperienced radiologist and a negative sestamibi scan, the performance of computed tomography does not seem to increase cure rate. Patients with no positive preoperative scans represent a challenging subgroup, with cure rates of approximately 80%.
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