The purpose of the study was to assess the clinical, biochemical, and sonographic factors influencing the performance of parathormone washout measurement (PTHw) vs. MIBI in the preoperative localization of parathyroid adenoma (PA). The studied group consisted of 39 patients with primary or tertiary hyperparathyroidism. The measurement of PTH concentrations was performed using an electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay. Scintigraphic localization of PA was carried out using dual-tracer planar neck scintigraphy, using 74 MBq 99mTc-pertechnetate and 740 MBq of 99mTc-MIBI. MIBI was unambiguously positive in 74% of patients. Among patients with negative or inconclusive MIBI, 90% had a positive PTHw result. Among patients with negative PTHw, two out of three had a positive MIBI result. The PTHw of lesions <10 mm in their largest diameter yielded positive results in 95%, compared to 75% for MIBI. For lesions ≥10 mm in largest diameter, 88% were visualised using MIBI. In conclusion, PTHw is a highly effective, easy, quick, safe, and relatively cheap procedure which might be considered for PA localisation, especially in patients with lesions presenting typical ultrasound features and a size below 10 mm. MIBI remains a useful procedure in specialized centres, particularly for patients in whom PTHw failed, larger lesions, and in cases of the ectopic location of PA.
Keywords: MIBI scintiscan; hyperparathyroidism; parathormone; ultrasound; washout.