Minimally-Invasive Parathyroid Surgery

Parathyroid surgery was first performed to correct primary hyperparathyroidism less than 100 years ago, and surgical treatment remains the only successful and durable cure for the disorder. 1,2 Techniques have evolved over the past century and continue to change and develop to this day. The conventional technique of bilateral neck exploration, though effective, has the disadvantage of being an invasive procedure, resulting in greater pain, poorer cosmesis, longer operative time, and longer hospitalization. More recently, developments in adjunctive technologies have allowed the development of less invasive techniques to achieve the same end result. This chapter will briefly discuss the conventional surgical treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism followed by a look at the minimally invasive techniques that are being developed and used today.