Results of intraoperative gama probe survey and frozen section in surgical treatment of parathyroid adenoma in children

Abstract Aim To evaluate the use of intraoperative gamma probe survey (IGPS) and frozen section (FS) in the surgical treatment of parathyroid adenoma (PA) in children. Patients and methods Children operated for PA between 2000 and 2015 were evaluated for age, sex, clinical features, presenting symptoms, diagnostic methods and results of surgical treatment retrospectively. Results Seven patients operated for PA were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 14.58 years (11–17 years) and male to female ratio was 4:3. Presenting symptoms were non-specific such as fatigue, weakness and abdominal pain (n = 4). Six patients (85.8%) had adenoma of single parathyroid gland whereas remaining patient has involvement of two glands (14.2%). Localizations of adenomas were left inferior (n = 3, 42.8%), right inferior (n = 2, 28.3%), right superior (n = 1, 14.2%), left superior (n = 1, 14.2%) and intrathymic (n = 1, 14.2%). In case with involvement of more than one gland, adenomas were localized at right superior/left inferior glands. The mean longest diameter of the adenomas were 14.8 mm (4–23 mm) and all of the cases were underwent USG and Tc-99 m sestamibi scan. During surgical excision, FS were used in 5 cases, and 4 cases had IGPS after preoperative radioactive substance injection. In one patient, injection was performed directly into the adenoma and 3 patients had systemic injection. Patient who had injection directly into the involved gland had positive gamma counts in the adjacent tissues because of local spread of radioactive substance and diagnosis was also confirmed with FS. In two of the cases, adenoma excision was performed without FS with only IGPS. None of the patients had peroperative and postoperative complications. Conclusion PA are rare in children and appropriate gland excision can be obtained also by the help of IGPS after injection of radioactive substance, and frozen section examination as well as intraoperative parathormone (PTH) screening. IGPS is a helpful tool to define the target tissue during surgery in order to avoid extensive dissection. Since direct injection of involved gland may cause accumulation of radioactivity in the adjacent tissues, surgeons must be aware of advantages and disadvantages of different radiolabelling techniques.