Successful minimally invasive parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism without using intraoperative parathyroid hormone assays

Background The need for intraoperative parathyroid hormone (iPTH) assays in minimally invasive parathyroidectomy (MIP) remains controversial. We report the results of MIP performed without the use of iPTH assays. Methods This was a single-institution retrospective review of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism treated with MIP between October 1, 1998, and December 31, 2002. Results Seventy-seven patients were studied. The mean preoperative calcium level was 11.4 mg/dL. All patients had a normal calcium level postoperatively (range, 7.4–10.2 mg/dL, mean, 9.1 mg/dL). Three patients (4%) required re-exploration for various reasons including the development of a second adenoma, secondary hyperparathyroidism, and discordant pathology. All 3 patients initially were eucalcemic. Conclusions Our success rate of 96% using a combination of preoperative sestamibi scans, intraoperative gamma probe localization, and selective frozen pathology is consistent with the published success rates using iPTH assays of 95% to 100%. We conclude that MIP can be performed successfully without using iPTH assays.