Abstract:

Aim: Primary hyperparathyroidism is the most common cause of hypercalcemia.Primary hyperparathyroidism shows a marked increase in postmenopausal women.In this study, we aimed to evaluate the estrogen receptors alpha (ERα) expression in parathyroid adenomas and the association of preoperative serum calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels with adenoma weight of patients diagnosed with primary hyperparathyroidism. Material and Methods: Total of 50 patients were included in the study, after excluding the patients diagnosed with tertiary hyperparathyroidism, double adenoma, parathyroid hyperplasia and parathyroid carcinoma. The diagnosis of parathyroid adenoma was confirmed by pathologist. After validation of parathyroid adenoma, ERα expression was evaluated with immunohistochemical method. Pathological features of the parathyroid adenomas were recorded. Results: The patients included in the study are mostly women and are in the postmenopausal period. Parathyroid adenoma hasn’t shown ERα expression in immunohistochemical staining. Male patients had higher mean pre-operative calcium and vitamin D levels than women (p=0.026, p=0.009 respectively). There was no correlation between menopause and pre-postoperative calcium, vitamin D and PTH. Correlation was found between adenoma diameter and adenoma weight with pre-operative serum calcium and PTH levels. Conclusion: In our study, statistically significant positive correlation was detected between the diameter of parathyroid adenoma and preoperative serum calcium together with PTH levels. This finding suggests the preoperative clinical features of the patients may be useful in predicting the adenoma diameter. However, it is important to determine the cut-off values of serum calcium and PTH level which might have a significant association with the adenoma diameter.

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