The localisation of parathyroid tumours--a comparison of computed tomography with cervical vein hormone assay.

Computed tomography has been employed for the localisation of parathyroid tissue in 26 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. In 14 of these selective venous catheter studies with parathyroid hormone assay were also undertaken. Computed tomography proved unreliable, identifying only 39 per cent whereas the cervical venous hormone assay studies localised 69 per cent of lesions correctly--a figure which is in agreement with several other groups. On balance our results suggest that neither technique should be routinely employed pre-operatively but that, following unsuccessful parathyroid surgery, the most useful localisation technique remains venous hormone assay.