Functioning lipoadenoma of the parathyroid gland.

A lipoadenoma of the parathyroid gland was discovered at autopsy as the result of a search for the cause of terminally detected hyperparathyroidism in an elderly man who had suffered cerebral infarction. It is the only case known to the authors in which this uncommon cause of hyperparathyroidism was found at post-mortem examination after hypercalcemia and raised levels of serum immunoreactive parathormone were documented during life.