A single parathyroid hormone measurement two hours after a thyroidectomy reliably predicts permanent hypoparathyroidism

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84), published as an observational study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of measuring the parathyroid hormone level 2 h after thyroidectomy and whether determination of the perioperative decline in parathyroid hormone added diagnostic value.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 366 patients were involved.

Patients subjected to thyroidectomy for benign thyroid disorders were analyzed in (1) a retrospective register-based study (366 consecutive patients treated during 2015-2016) and (2) a prospective observational study (39 patients treated during 2018).

How the Study Was Run

Optimal cut-off values for postoperative parathyroid hormone and perioperative decline (%) in parathyroid hormone were determined by receiver operating characteristics and area under the curve.

Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated using cross tabulation.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Hypocalcemia, Hypoparathyroidism, Parathyroid Hormone, Postoperative Complications and Thyroidectomy.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is an observational study of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) in 366 patients.

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

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2021 (Scandinavian journal of surgery : SJS : official organ for the Finnish Surgical Society and the Scandinavian Surgical Society), a journal based in England.

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