Parathyroidectomy

Hyperparathyroidism is a disorder where there is excessive secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH), which leads to excessively high calcium levels in the blood. This can lead to serious health problems due to progressive osteoporosis, kidney stones and kidney disease, muscle aches and pains, fatigue and brain fog, and cardiovascular disease. The cause is usually due to a growth (adenoma) in one of the parathyroid glands.  These are very small glands located behind or around the thyroid gland (most people have 4 parathyroid glands).  There can be a single adenoma (most common), or multigland disease, where multiple glands are overactive.  These growths are nearly always benign, but can cause serious health problems.  Usually, patients with hyperparathyroidism will see an Endocrinologist in the first instance, who will then decide if referral for surgery is indicated. 

The aim of parathyroid surgery is to identify and remove the culprit parathyroid gland or glands.  Prior to surgery, most patients will require imaging workup, which may include ultrasound, nuclear scans, and/or a specialist parathyroid CT scan. Sometimes, despite preoperative imaging, no culprit is localized.  This can reflect either a hidden adenoma, or multigland disease.  In these cases, the surgeon has to explore without the benefit of preoperative localization.  Even where the scans are positive, the surgeon has to be aware of the possibility of false positives or false negatives on the scan, or of having more than one adenoma, with the second adenoma not detected on the scan.  For these reasons, parathyroid surgery has been well documented to have significantly higher success rates when performed by experienced high volume parathyroid surgeons.

All parathyroid surgeries performed by Professor Sheahan are performed under intraoperative PTH control, which means that during the operation, your blood levels of PTH are checked during the operation, and the operation proceeds until there is adequate drop in PTH levels. With this technique, the success rate of surgery performed by Professor Sheahan is 98%.  

To read more about intraoperative PTH analyser, please click here