Primary hyperparathyroidism in a referral hospital.

A series of 46 patients had a tissue diagnosis of primary hyperparthyrodism. Forty (88%) had a single adenoma, one had multiple adenomas; four exhibited parathyroid hyperplasia and one had carcinoma of the parathyroid. The incidence establishing the diagnosis has increased in recent years because of routine multichemistry screening for calcium. The most reliable "diagnostic" laboratory finding was an elevated serum calcium: 96 per cent of our patients had serum calcium above the upper limit of normal. Forty-one patients had lesions removed; parathyroid carcinoma (1), hyperplasia (3), and adenomas (37). Only two patients have presistent disease postoperatively: one with hyperplasia who apparently had an inadequate resection of her involved glands and one who had biopsy of an adenoma without further surgical management.