Clinical Profile and Outcome of Parathyroid Adenoma-Associated Pancreatitis

BACKGROUND: Primary hyperparathyroidism due to parathyroid adenoma presenting with pancreatitis as the initial manifestation is rare. The causal relationship between pancreatitis and primary hyperparathyroidism is debatable. OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical and biochemical profile of patients with parathyroid adenoma-associated pancreatitis as well as the outcome following parathyroidectomy. METHODS: The authors retrospectively studied the clinical and biochemical parameters of patients with acute, recurrent acute and chronic pancreatitis who underwent parathyroidectomy for parathyroid adenoma at Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, Hyderabad, India, between April 2010 and June 2016. RESULTS: Of the total 3962 patients who presented with recurrent acute and chronic pancreatitis, 77 (1.94%) patients had parathyroid adenoma-associated pancreatitis and were included in this study for further analysis. Of these, 41 (53.2%) had recurrent acute pancreatitis and 36 (46.8%) had chronic pancreatitis. Serum calcium (12.4 ± 1.7 mg/dl) and parathyroid hormone levels (367 ± 286.4 pg/ml) were found to be elevated. Left inferior parathyroid adenoma (37.7%) was the most common finding on neck imaging. Patients with chronic pancreatitis had a longer disease duration (3.8 ± 5 years) and more pain episodes (10.7 ± 10.2) than those with recurrent acute pancreatitis (0.62 ± 0.7 years and 2.6 ± 2.7, respectively) (P = 0.0001). In all the patients, following parathyroidectomy, there was a significant decrease in serum calcium (12.4 ± 1.7 mg/dl vs. 9.7 ± 1.9 mg/dl; P = 0.0001) and serum parathyroid hormone levels (367 ± 286.4 pg/ml vs. 116.4 ± 47.1 pg/ml; P = 0.0001) as well as there was a reduction in the number of episodes and severity of pain. CONCLUSIONS: Estimating serum calcium after an episode of unexplained pancreatitis is important and can help minimize delay in diagnosing primary hyperparathyroidism, and possibly prevent the progression of pancreatitis. Parathyroidectomy improves the clinical outcome of primary hyperparathyroidism and prevents further attacks of pancreatitis.