Surgical management of primary hyperparathyroidism in Canada

Primary hyperparathyroisim is a relatively common condition, for which the standard treatment is surgical excision of one or more of the parathyroid glands. Primary hyperparathyroidism can be due to a single adenoma or multiple gland hyperplasia. In recent decades localizing imaging has improved and there has been a shift away from multiple gland exploration toward a single gland excision. There are, however, no practice guidelines regarding an optimal approach to this condition. This study shows that there is a high degree of variation in practices across Canada and a large amount of uncertainty in the approach to primary hyperparathyroidism. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40463-014-0044-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.