Clinical Presentation, Staging and Long-Term Evolution of Parathyroid Cancer

Background Parathyroid cancer is rare and often fatal. This review provides an in-depth analysis of 330 clinical cases reported in detail. These data are used to inform a proposal for a hitherto lacking TNM staging system. Materials and Methods All case reports or series with sufficient case details of parathyroid cancer were identified from PubMed, and data were analyzed using SPSS. Results Of 330 patients, 117 (35%) died of disease and 207 (63%) experienced recurrence in a total of 2007 follow-up years and a mean length of follow-up of 6.1 years. Histopathology findings rather than biochemical or clinical features predict outcome. In univariate analysis, survival and recurrence rates are significantly influenced by gender (male relative risk [RR] 1.7, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.0–2.7, P