title: Severe pancreatitis after parathyroidectomy.
abstract: Cope showed in 1957 that pancreatitis may be the presenting symptom in hyperparathyroidism. Since then, the literature has reported a coincidence of primary hyperparathyroidism and pancreatitis between 1% and 19%, but the true relationship has not been fully established. When severe pancreatitis follows parathyroidectomy, a condition familiar to parathyroid surgeons, reports are mostly anecdotal and by many authors considered to be coincidental. We present the case history of a 58-year-old man with a longstanding history of untreated primary hyperparathyroidism who developed severe pancreatitis immediately after removal of a 400-mg parathyroid adenoma. He was the first in a series of 108 operated patients to develop this complication. His preoperative levels of parathormone and serum calcium were the highest in our material. We believe that pancreatitis after parathyroidectomy is a real but rare complication that might be predicted by preoperative high values of serum calcium and parathormone.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Surgery, Vestfold Central Hospital, Tønsberg, Norway.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mjåland
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Normann
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D006961:Hyperparathyroidism / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D010281:Parathyroid Hormone / Q000097:blood; D010282:Parathyroid Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D016105:Parathyroidectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D010281:Parathyroid Hormone; D002118:Calcium