Parathyroid Carcinoma: A Review with Three Illustrative Cases

Antoine Digonnet¹, Adelaïde Carlier¹, Esther Willemse¹, Marie Quiriny¹, Cécile Dekeyser¹, Nicolas de Saint Aubain³, Marc Lemort², Guy Andry^{1 ✉}

1. Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Free University of Brussels. Jules Bordet institute, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
2. Department of Radiology, Free University of Brussels. Jules Bordet institute, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
3. Department of Pathology, Free University of Brussels. Jules Bordet institute, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.

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Citation:
Digonnet A, Carlier A, Willemse E, Quiriny M, Dekeyser C, de Saint Aubain N, Lemort M, Andry G. Parathyroid Carcinoma: A Review with Three Illustrative Cases. J Cancer 2011; 2:532-537. doi:10.7150/jca.2.532. Available from http://www.jcancer.org/v02p0532.htm

Abstract

Parathyroid carcinoma is a rare disease, which accounts for less than 1% of all case of primary hyperparathyroidism and is usually not detected until the time of surgery or thereafter. For most patients preoperative staging is not available. A radical excision remains the standard management; the place of adjuvant radiotherapy is not well established yet. Local recurrence and/or the metastases are unfortunately frequent. The present paper presents an up to date review of the literature illustrated by three clinical cases.

Keywords: parathyroid carcinoma, hypercalcemia, hyperparathyroidism, prognosis, surgery, methylene blue, radiotherapy