[Effective intraoperative identification of parathyroid adenomas by means of a gamma probe after injection of technetium 99m-sestamibi in 5 patients].

Primary hyperparathyroidism is caused by a single adenoma in the majority of patients. In five patients (2 men aged 74 and 78 and 3 women aged 78, 58 an 73 years) a recently introduced approach for intraoperative identification of pathological parathyroid glands was applied using intravenously injected technetium-99m(99mTc)-sestamibi and a gamma probe. For two patients this was a reoperation in this region. All patients had one adenoma removed and became normocalcaemic postoperatively. The time between the start of the operation until the extirpation of the adenoma was 13-25 min, a lot shorter than bilateral cervical exploration takes, even in the two reoperations. These results confirm the literature that this approach minimizes operative intervention, thereby shortening operative time and reducing potential surgical complications.