Morphology of the parathyroid glands. A study of 146 samples and review of the literature

Parathyroid hyperfunction condition has a very diverse and unspecific symptoms and signs. We have performed an anatomopathologic study of 146 parathyroid gland from patients diagnosed from hyperparathyroidism. About a 72.6% of the patients presented a parathyroid adenoma while in the rest 27.4% it was observed principal cells hyperplasia. Up to now we have not registered any cases of parathyroid carcinoma after anatomopathological exam of the removed gland. The mayority of the adenomas (85%) were found on the lower parathyroids and its size varied between 6 mm and 5 cm. In one case an double adenoma was diagnosed and in another two cases the adenoma was located in the superior mediastine.