Evolution of parathyroid pathology identification during concomitant thyroid surgery.

BACKGROUND

Concomitant thyroid and parathyroid disease is well described, but published series usually report a single combined prevalence and do not separate the mode by which parathyroid pathology is detected at thyroid surgery. We describe the evolution of these patterns at a single academic center.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing thyroid surgery at Emory University from January 1999 to December 2025 (parent cohort, n=10,871). Patients with parathyroid pathology found at the same operation were identified by manual chart review (n=128) and reconciled against the institutional research dataset, yielding 125 patients after exclusions. Each patient was classified into a surgical-intent pathway: planned preoperative diagnosis, intraoperative discovery, or incidental pathology finding. Differences in pathway distribution across eras were evaluated descriptively and with Pearson chi-square testing. Exploratory analyses are reported in the supplement.

RESULTS

Among 125 patients (76% female; median age 60 years), the surgical-intent pathway was planned in 96 (76.8%), intraoperative discovery in 22 (17.6%), and incidental pathology finding in 7 (5.6%). The planned pathway rose from 29 of 45 cases (64%) in 1999-2009 to 31 of 32 (97%) in 2020-2025, while intraoperative or incidental findings decreased from 16 of 45 (36%) to 1 of 32 (3%). Coexisting thyroid malignancy was present in 35 of 125 patients (28%); of these, 31 (89% of thyroid neoplasms) were papillary thyroid carcinoma, median tumor size was 0.8 [interquartile range (IQR), 0.4-1.1] cm, and 19 (54%) were T1a.

CONCLUSIONS

At this institution, parathyroid pathology detected during concomitant thyroid surgery shifted from intraoperative or incidental discovery toward planned preoperative identification over a 27-year period. Most coexisting malignancies were small, low-stage papillary carcinomas. The 28% rate reflects a selected combined-operation cohort and should not be generalized to all primary hyperparathyroidism patients.