A 15-year experience: intraoperative parathyroid hormone assay for the management of primary hyperparathyroidism in a UK endocrine surgical unit

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the outcomes of first-time parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism using intraoperative PTH (IOPTH) assay in the light of the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines for the management of primary hyperparathyroidism. Method This is a retrospective cohort analysis of a prospectively maintained database of endocrine surgery in a tertiary centre. Preoperative radiological localisation (concordance and accuracy), intraoperative PTH parameters and adjusted serum calcium at minimum 6-month follow-up were analysed. The accuracy of IOPTH to predict post-operative normocalcaemia and the number needed to treat (NNT) within the cohort when IOPTH was utilised were determined. Differences between groups were evaluated with Chi-squared and Fisher’s exact test. Results Between January 2004 and September 2018, 849 patients (75.4% women), median age 64 years (IQR 54–72), were analysed. The median preoperative adjusted serum calcium was 2.80mmol/l (IQR 2.78–2.90), and the median preoperative PTH was 14.20pmol/l (IQR 10.70–20.25). The overall first-time cure (normocalcaemia) rate was 96.4%. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values of IOPTH were 96.8%, 83.2%, 97.6% and 78.8%, respectively, with an accuracy of 95.1%. For patients with concordant scans (48.3%), a targeted approach without IOPTH would have achieved a cure rate of 94.1% compared with 98.0% using IOPTH ( p <0.01) Conclusion The use of IOPTH assay significantly improved the rate of normocalcaemia at 6 months. The low NNT to benefit from IOPTH, particularly those patients with a single positive scan, and the inevitable reduction in the potential costs incurred from failure and reoperation justify its utilisation.