[Multisite cervico-mediastinal venous samples for radioimmunologic determination of parathormone in primary hyperparathyroidism. Results in 24 surgically confirmed cases].

Multisite cervico-mediastinal venous blood samples were collected fort the estimation of parathormone before operation in twenty four patients subsequently confirmed at surgery to have primary hyperparathyroidism. The examination made it possible to lateralise a single (single adenoma: 18 cases) or predominant lesion (multiple adenomas or hyperplasia: 6 cases), in 15 of them (62%). In patients with a single adenoma, exact lateralisation was obtained in 12 out of 18 cases (9 had selective samples with 7 accurate lateralisations). This lengthy and costly examination is essentially of value in localisation and should be used essentially in patients with virtually definite primary hyperparathyroidism and in whom the responsible lesion has not been discovered at exploratory operation.