What is the optimal treatment for children with primary hyperparathyroidism?
OBJECTIVE
Little information exists regarding the optimal surgical treatment of pediatric primary hyperparathyroidism. We hypothesized that primary hyperparathyroidism in children, in the absence of a family history, is caused by single-gland disease and is amenable to minimally invasive parathyroidectomy (MIP).


METHODS
We reviewed the records of individuals younger than 25 years who underwent parathyroidectomy in a prospectively collected database at a single tertiary hospital from 2003 to 2009.


RESULTS
Twenty-five patients were identified, with a mean (SD) age of 19 (3.7) years. Sixty percent had single-gland disease (n = 15). Familial disease was present in 6 patients. All of the children younger than 18 years without a family history of disease (9/9) were found to have a single-gland disease (P < .001). Seventy-eight percent of patients without a family history were successfully treated without a bilateral exploration. Average length of stay was less than 1 day with no complications or recurrences.


CONCLUSIONS
Primary hyperparathyroidism in patients younger than 18 years without a family history was uniformly caused by single-gland disease. Minimally invasive parathyroidectomy was successful in these patients and avoided the morbidity of bilateral exploration. We recommend MIP be used in pediatric patients at large referral centers with prior successful institutional experience with the technique.
Durkin
Emily T
ET
Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53792-3236, USA.
Nichol
Peter F
PF
Lund
Dennis P
DP
Chen
Herbert
H
Sippel
Rebecca S
RS
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003657:Decision Making; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D049950:Hyperparathyroidism, Primary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D016105:Parathyroidectomy / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult