Safety in parathyroid surgery: innovation in diagnostic and minimally invasive operations

Abstract

The main treatment method of primary and tertiary hyperparathyroidism is surgery. However, surgical interventions on the parathyroid glands can lead to formidable complications such as laryngeal paresis and hypocalcemia. With this background, a comprehensive study examined the effectiveness of modern methods of diagnosis and surgical treatment of hyperparathyroidism to increase the safety level in surgery of the thyroid gland. The results of a comprehensive examination and treatment of 53 patients with hyperparathyroidism who underwent surgery using three methods were analyzed: traditional (n = 18/34); minimally invasive endoscopically assisted (n = 32/60), and endoscopic (transoral) (n = 3/6). Intraoperative neuromonitoring was also performed in all surgical interventions. Parathyroidectomy was performed under parathyroid monitoring for intraoperative topical diagnosis of parathyroid tumors in nine patients. The use of minimally invasive endoscopically assisted access to the parathyroid glands, as an alternative to the traditional approach, indicated that the preoperative potential in the diagnosis of parathyroid disorders. Moreover, intraoperative neuromonitoring and parathyroid monitoring demonstrated efficiency based on the decline in the incidence of specific postoperative complications with a tolerable increase in operative time, maintenance of the average duration of stationary treatment after surgery, and increased safety level of surgical treatment of hyperparathyroidism.