Hypoparathyroidism: LOW PARATHYROID HORMONE LEVELS AFTER THYROID SURGERY: A FEASIBLE PREDICTOR OF HYPOCALCEMIA

This chapter investigates whether post-thyroidectomy serum levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH) could predict biochemical and symptomatic hypocalcemia. In addition, indication for surgery was homogenous and not representative of all practices nearly 70% of the study population underwent thyroidectomy for Graves' disease and only one patient (2.6%) had a suspected diagnosis of malignancy. Due to this limitation, Lindblom et al. defined their hypoparathyroidism cutoff point as equal to or lower than the reference range. As this study was focused on hypoparathyroidism, further refinement was necessary, as accurate PTH levels below the reference range may hold additional predictive value. At the turn of the millennium, hypocalcemia following total thyroidectomy was one of the main barriers preventing routine, same-day discharge of thyroidectomy patients.