Parathyroid Allotransplant for Persistent Hypocalcaemia: A New Technique Involving Short-Term Culture.

OBJECTIVES

To develop a new parathyroid allotransplant method for the treatment of permanent hypoparathyroidism.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Parathyroid cells 50 × 10(6) derived from a parathyroid hyperplasia patient were transferred to a 61-year-old patient who had thyroidectomy 17 years earlier, allowing to papillary thyroid cancer; he was admitted to our outpatient clinic with symptomatic chronic hypocalcemia. Cell isolation, cryopreservation, and culturing were conducted according to a new protocol.

RESULTS

During a follow-up of 5 months, the patient had no complications that could indicate rejection, and clinical symptoms completely resolved without requiring any drug supplementation.

CONCLUSIONS

Here, we report a new method, enabling fast and cost-effective parathyroid allotransplant with maintained tissue viability sufficient to treat persistent hypocalcemia.