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Background: Tertiary hyperparathyroidism (3HPT) is defined as a condition of excessive autonomous excretion of intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) with persistent hypercalcemia (>10.5 mg/dL) that lasts for more than 12 months after a successful kidney transplantation, in the context of a long course secondary hyperparathyroidism (2HPT). The chronic high levels of iPTH cause a worsening of graft function, accompanied by systemic symptoms of hypercalcemia. The only curative therapy is parathyroidectomy (PTX). It remains unclear whether total parathyroidectomy with autotransplantation (TPTX-AT) or subtotal parathyroidectomy (SPTX) lead to better outcomes., Aims: The aim of this retrospective, single-institution cohort study is to evaluate the rate of persistent or recurrent disease and postoperative calcium/iPTH disturbances in patients treated with TPTX-AT or SPTX for 3HPT., Methods: A single-center retrospective analysis of 3HPT patients submitted to TPTX-AT or SPTX between 2007-2020 with at least 24 months follow-up was conducted. The outcome parameters included persistence/recurrence of disease, incidence of transitory hypocalcemia, and temporary/permanent hypoparathyroidism., Results: A cohort of 52 patients was analyzed and divided in two groups: 38 (73%) were submitted for TPTX-AT, and 14 patients (27%) were submitted for SPTX. The TPTX-AT population showed lower plasmatic calcium concentrations compared with the SPTX group during the entire follow-up period (p<0.001). There were eight cases (21%) of transitory hypocalcemia in the TPTX-AT group and none in the SPTX group, with p=0.065. Two cases (5%) of temporary hypoparathyroidism occurred in the TPTX-AT group and none in the SPTX group, with p= 0.530. There were no cases of permanent hypoparathyroidism and no cases of persistent disease. No statistical difference was assessed for the recurrence of 3HPT between the TPTX-AT group and the SPTX group (N=1, 3% vs N=1, 7%) (p=0.470)., Conclusion: No significative difference was registered between the TPTX-AT and SPTX groups in terms of persistence/recurrence of disease, incidence of transitory hypocalcemia, and temporary/permanent hypoparathyroidism. Mean calcium levels iPTH values were statistically lower among the TPTX-AT group compared with the SPTX group while remaining always in the range of normality., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Casella, Guarneri, Campanile, Adhoute, Gelera and Morandi.)

Hypocalcaemia is a complication of parathyroidectomy. We retrospectively analyzed data on patients who underwent parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) to identify predictive factors for severe postoperative hypocalcaemia. Since 2004 we performed 87 parathyroidectomies for pHPT. We divided the patients into two groups: subjects who presented with postoperative hypocalcaemia (group B) or otherwise (group A). We looked for a correlation between several variables and the incidence of postoperative hypocalcaemia. The median calcemia in group B (19 patients) was 6.9 mg/dL on the first postoperative day and 7.6 mg/dL on the third day. We observed hypocalcemia related clinical symptoms in every patient. In all 19 cases the reduction of intraoperative parathyroid hormone above 85 per cent after parathyroidectomy was related to the development of severe postoperative hypocalcaemia (P = 0.042). We found that the reduction of intraoperative parathyroid hormone over 85 per cent after parathyroidectomy can be considered a reliable predictive factor of postoperative hypocalcaemia after parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism.

We aimed to evaluate the impact of loupe magnification (LM) on incidental parathyroid gland removal (from pathology reports), hypocalcemia, and recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury after total thyroidectomy and answer the question of whether this tool should be always recommended for patient's safety. Between January 2005 and December 2008, 126 patients underwent total thyroidectomy with routine use of 2.5 x galilean loupes; their charts were compared with data on 118 patients operated on between January 1997 and December 2000 without LM (two different equally skilled surgical teams operating in the two periods). LM decreased the rate of inadvertent parathyroid glands removal (3.8 vs 7.8% of total parathyroid glands; P = 0.01), as well as of biochemical (20.6 vs 33.9%; P = 0.028) and clinical (12.7 vs 33%; P = 0.0003) hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy. All cases (16 of 16) of symptomatic hypocalcaemia in the LM group proved to be associated with parathyroidectomy vs 76.9 per cent (30 of 39) without LM (P = 0.046). A trend toward decreased RLN injury rate, although statistically insignificant, was reported, being unilateral transient, unilateral permanent, and bilateral transient palsy rates 6.8, 2.5, and 1.7 per cent, respectively, without LM vs 4.8, 2.4, and 0.8 per cent, respectively, with LM (P = 0.69; P = 1, and P = 0.61, respectively). Our results do support the routine use of LM during total thyroidectomy.

Background: Transient hypoparathyroidism is a frequent and challenging complication following total thyroidectomy. The aim of the study was to identify patients at risk of developing thyroidectomy-related hypocalcemia and symptoms by means of the intraoperative quick parathyroid hormone (PTH) assay., Methods: Eighty-one patients undergoing total thyroidectomy were included in the study. Quick PTH levels were measured at induction of anaesthesia and 10 minutes after total thyroidectomy. A sample of 10 patients who underwent unilateral thyroid lobectomy was considered as a control group. The accuracy of intraoperative PTH decline in predicting postoperative hypoparathyroidism was analysed., Results: After total thyroidectomy, 27 patients (33.3%) developed postoperative hypocalcemia. Symptoms were reported by 21 patients (25.9%). The mean percentage decline of intraoperative quick PTH was 81% in hypocalcemic compared with 39% in normocalcemic patients (P<0.001), and it was 83% in symptomatic compared with 42% in asymptomatic patients (P<0.001). Mean proportion decline of quick PTH after unilateral lobectomy was 20%, significantly lower than the 53% registered after total thyroidectomy (P=0.005). Analysis of variation of intraoperative quick PTH with the receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curve showed a 75.7% decline as the cut-off value predicting postoperative hypocalcemia with the highest accuracy (91.4%) (sensitivity: 81.5% specificity: 96.3% positive likelihood ratio: 22; negative likelihood ratio: 0.2). Regarding the prediction of postoperative symptoms, a 79.5% decline was the most accurate (92.6%) cut-off point (sensitivity: 76.2% specificity: 98.3% positive likelihood ratio: 46; negative likelihood ratio: 0.2)., Conclusions: Quick PTH monitoring during total thyroidectomy is a useful means for identifying low-risk patients for postoperative hypoparathyroidism and candidates for early, safe discharge. Furthermore, it is an objective method complementary to the surgeon's judgement of the intraoperative function of parathyroid glands, which should be implanted in the event of a 75%-80% decline.