Abstract
Between May 1976 and July 1980, in 12 patients who had had refractory renal osteodystrophy, subtotal parathyroidectomy was attempted at Social Insurance Chukyo Hospital. The results obtained were
1) Subtotal parathyroidectomy was successfully done in 9 cases but all of the four parathyroid glands were not found in the other 3 cases. The average weight of parathyroid glands of the 12 cases was 2248.1±3197.1 (ranged from 80 to 10500) mg.
2) As postoperative complication, recurrent nerve injury was noticed in 2 cases and pretetanic symptoms in 5 cases.
3) In 9 of the 12 cases, remarkable improvement of symptoms was noticed and in 7 of these 9 cases complete rehabilitation was achieved, but no improvement of symptoms was noticed in the other 3 cases.
4) The average weight of removed parathyroid glands in cases in whom satisfactory postoperative course was noticed (2961.2±3429.6mg) was much greater than that in cases of unsatisfactory results (107.3±24.2mg).
5) Serum PTH values measured preoperatively were useful for diagnosis of secondary hyperparathyroidism in chronic hemodialysis patients.
