Applicability of intraoperative parathyroid hormone assay during total thyroidectomy as a guide for the surgeon to selective parathyroid tissue autotransplantation

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the applicability of IOPTH in guiding the surgeon to selective parathyroid tissue autotransplantation during total thyroidectomy (TT).

Why It Was Studied

However, the value of IOPTH has not been assessed in a randomized study as a guide for the surgeon to parathyroid tissue autotransplantation (PA).

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 2005, patients were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Between January 2005 and December 2005, 340 patients qualified for total thyroidectomy (TT) who met the inclusion criteria were randomized to two equal-sized groups (n=170): group A, in which elective PA of at least one parathyroid gland was performed in all cases without IOPTH as a guide; and group B, in which selective IOPTH-guided PA was performed, if only the iPTH plasma level was <10 ng/L at 10-20 min after TT (before skin closure).

IOPTH measurements were performed by the STAT-Intraoperative-iPTH-Assay.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

The standard technique of PA consisting of implanting the parathyroid tissue into 10-20 sternocleidomastoid muscle pockets was used in both groups.

Serum calcium was routinely monitored at 4, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hr postoperatively.

The incidence and severity of hypocalcemia and related symptoms were matched with the IOPTH results.

On follow-up, serum calcium and plasma iPTH values were measured at 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively.

The secondary end point was the use of postoperative medication for transient hypocalcemic symptoms.

What Was Measured

However, the value of IOPTH has not been assessed in a randomized study as a guide for the surgeon to parathyroid tissue autotransplantation (PA).

PubMed files the paper under topics including Hypoparathyroidism, Monitoring, Intraoperative, Parathyroid Glands, Parathyroid Hormone, Patient Selection, Thyroid Diseases and Thyroidectomy.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) in 2005, patients.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Results are reported in around 8 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2008 (World journal of surgery), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) compound page, all human trials.