Lesions of the thyroid gland in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.

To determine the frequency of coexisting thyroid gland lesions, a consecutive series of 30 patients operated upon for primary hyperparathyroidism were studied. Lesions of the thyroid gland were found in 21 (70 per cent) patients. It is known that patients undergoing surgical treatment for a disease of the parathyroid or thyroid gland should be carefully evaluated both preoperatively and intraoperatively for abnormalities in the other gland or glands to recognize coexistent disease and treat it in one single procedure. The results of this study has lead to the appreciation of the value of a scintiscan of the thyroid gland prior to operations upon the parathyroid gland. All of the patients with an abnormal scintiscan had coexisting pathologic findings of the thyroid gland. These results suggest that it is quite helpful in evaluating the thyroid gland prior to parathyroid gland operations.