Importance of Parathyroid Hormone Needle Aspiration Washout in Adenoma Localization in Primary Hyperparathyroidism

BACKGROUND Primary hyperparathyroidism is an endocrine disease characterized by excessive secretion of parathyroid hormone and hypercalcemia. Although scintigraphy is commonly used for pre-operative localization, it does not always localize the parathyroid lesion. In such patients, ultrasonography can visualize the suspected lesion and needle washout sample for parathyroid hormone titer can be used to confirm parathyroid tissue. The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of the parathyroid hormone needle aspiration washout method in detecting the localization of parathyroid adenoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism who underwent surgery between 2010 and 2017 at the Dicle University Medical Faculty Hospital were retrospectively evaluated using medical records. Patients undergoing parathyroid hormone needle aspiration washout were performed in the suspected lesion were included in the study. Accompanied by ultrasonography, the suspected area was penetrated with needle, and negative aspiration was performed. Pre-operative scintigraphic data of patients were evaluated. Patients with positive scintigraphy, negative scintigraphy or patients who did not undergo scintigraphy were included in our study. Demographic data were presented as continuous data means ± standard deviation. Categorical variables were presented as frequency and percentage. RESULTS Forty-nine patients (female/male, 40/9) who underwent parathyroid hormone needle aspiration washout were included in the study. Parathyroid hormone washout result was positive in 47 patients (47/49) and negative in 2 patients (2/49), sensitivity/positive predictive value (PPV) 95.91%. Twenty-six patients who had negative/suspicious scintigraphic results were diagnosed using the parathyroid hormone needle aspiration washout method (24/26, 92.3% accuracy). Parathyroid hormone needle aspiration washout without scintigraphy was performed in 13 patients (13/13, 100% accuracy). CONCLUSIONS Parathyroid adenoma localization can be easily done using parathyroid hormone needle aspiration washout in centers experienced in adenoma localization in primary hyperparathyroidism cases in which scintigraphic results are negative or scintigraphy cannot be performed. We believe that primary parathyroid hormone needle aspiration washout can be a new localization method for adenoma localization.