Autotransplantation of fresh diseased parathyroid tissue in primary and radiation-induced hyperparathyroidism.

Thirty-five patients with primary or radiation-induced hyperparathyroidism underwent autotransplantation with fresh diseased parathyroid tissue. Due to previous neck surgery (34 percent), concomitant thyroid surgery (66 percent), and a high proportion of multiglandular parathyroid disease (43 percent), all patients ran a high risk of becoming hypoparathyroid, At follow-up , a mean of 28 months after operation, 32 patients had normal parathyroid function, 2 had hyper- and 1 had hypoparathyroid function. The amount of tissue used for transplantation was individually chosen by relating the serum calcium level to the total parathyroid mass. In patients with water-clear cell hyperplasia and thus low endocrine activity on a weight basis, large grafts were needed, whereas less than 120 mg was used in most other cases. In two of our three failures we did not follow these tactics. Our results show that autografting fresh diseased parathyroid tissue can minimize the occurrence of postoperative hypoparathyroidism in patients at high risk of this complication. In no case has recurrent or progressive hypercalcemia developed.