Minimally invasive management of the mediastinal parathyroid adenoma.
METHODS
Traditional surgical management of mediastinal parathyroid adenomas has required mediastinal exploration via sternotomy or thoracotomy. By contrast minimal access approaches to the mediastinum via videoscopic transthoracic or transcervical approaches can offer equivalent visualization, patient safety and decreased patient morbidity. The availability of sternal retractor systems, the rapid parathyroid hormone (PTH) assay for intraoperative confirmation of cure, recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring technique and video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) instrumentation have made this possible. The purpose of this article is to discuss these approaches and the results with their application in five consecutive patients.


RESULTS
Five consecutive patients underwent mediastinal exploration of which three were performed transcervically and three transthoracically (one patient underwent both procedures). One patient had a negative thoracic exploration; one patient's course was complicated by transient recurrent laryngeal nerve injury which resolved spontaneously.


CONCLUSIONS
Transcervical approaches for resection of anterior mediastinal parathyroid adenomas are possible with the use of the Rultract Skyhook Retractor without the need for sternotomy. VATS provides excellent visualization of the middle and posterior mediastinum avoiding the morbidity of thoracotomy.
Sukumar
Mithran S
MS
Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, OR Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon 97239, USA.
Komanapalli
Christopher B
CB
Cohen
James I
JI
D000236:Adenoma / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D010281:Parathyroid Hormone / Q000097:blood; D010282:Parathyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D010281:Parathyroid Hormone; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi