Comparative analysis of clinicopathologic features between adenoma and hyperplasia in surgically treated patients for hyperparathyroidism: A retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Hyperparathyroidism (HPT) is a common endocrine disorder resulting from overproduction of parathyroid hormone (PTH). Usually HPT is caused by parathyroid adenoma (PA) or parathyroid hyperplasia (PH). Our aim is to assess clinicopathologic features associated with PA and PH in patients with HPT. METHODS: We retrospectively collected 29 cases of HPT recorded at the Department of Pathology of Hassan II University Hospital of Fes, Morocco, from 2013 to 2016. RESULTS: The mean age was 52.14 ± 15.7 years (range of 22–76 years), 13 patients (44.8%) had primary HPT, 16 (55.2%) had secondary HPT. The largest size of the resected parathyroid specimens ranged from 1 to 3.6 cm (mean of 2.26 ± 0.66 cm). Seventeen patients (58.6%) had PA, the remaining cases were diagnosed as PH. There were no significant statistical differences between PA and PH in age, sex, clinical presentation, preoperative serum PTH, or in parathyroid gland size (P > 0.05). However compared to PH, PA is more often a single-gland disease, found in primary HPT with higher preoperative calcium level (P ˂ 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In patients surgically treated for HPT, PA is associated with some distinctive clinicopathologic features. These findings could be helpful to pathologists and clinicians for appropriate clinicopathologic management.