Initial surgical results of 500 Parathyroidectomies for Hyperparathyroidism related to chronic kidney disease - mineral and bone disorder

INTRODUCTION: Surgical treatment of hyperparathyroidism related to chronic kidney disease is a challenging procedure even for experienced parathyroid surgeons. Over the years, adjuvant techniques have been developed to assist the medical team to improve surgical outcomes. However, medical staff in poor countries have less access to these techniques and the effectiveness of surgery in this context is unclear. OBJECTIVE: verify the effectiveness of surgery for treatment of hyperparathyroidism related to chronic kidney disease without adjuvant techniques. METHODS: Over a 5-years period, patients with hyperparathyroidism that had clinical therapeutic failure were evaluated for surgical treatment. Total parathyroidectomy with autograft or subtotal resection were the selected procedures. Surgeries were performed in a tertiary hospital in Brazil without the assistance of some of the adjuvant techniques that are usually applied, such as frozen section, nerve monitoring, and gamma probe. Intraoperative PTH and localization pre-operative exams were applied, but with huge restrictions. RESULTS: A total of 518 patients with hyperparathyroidism (128 secondary and 390 tertiary) were surgically treated. Total parathyroidectomy were performed in 81.5%, subtotal in 12.4%, and 61% of patients had a surgical failure. Of all failures, only 1.4% needed a second surgery totaling 98.6% of successful initial surgical treatment. Neck hematoma and unilateral focal fold paralysis occurred in 1.9% and 1.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: parathyroidectomy is a safe and reproducible surgical procedure even in the absence of adjuvant techniques.