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Neuromuscular symptoms in elderly patients with hyperparathyroidism: improvement with parathyroid surgery
Author(s) -
Delbridge Leigh W.,
Marshman David,
Reeve Thomas S.,
Crummer Patsy,
Posen Solomon
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1988.tb120508.x
Subject(s) - medicine , lethargy , primary hyperparathyroidism , weakness , hypercalcaemia , hyperparathyroidism , parathyroid hormone , surgery , muscle weakness , parathyroidectomy , calcium
In a consecutive series of 100 neck explorations for primary hyperparathyroidism, 42 patients were 60 years of age or older; in this group of elderly patients the surgical cure rate was 100%. These patients were reviewed retrospectively by means of a structured interview. Twenty‐one patients had had preoperative neuromuscular symptoms that ranged from coma to subjective muscular weakness. These patients had significantly‐ higher preoperative serum calcium and parathyroid hormone levels than did 21 patients without neuromuscular symptoms ( P= 0.003 and P = 0.046, respectively). Most of the neuromuscular symptoms improved in the postoperative period. In particular, 15 of 17 patients with muscle weakness reported a significant improvement, while 14 of 15 patients who suffered from fatigue and lethargy reported an improvement. An improvement also occurred in the level of day‐to‐day function in eight patients. While surgery for primary hyperparathyroidism generally is undertaken for a specific indication, such as severe hypercalcaemia or renal stones, it appears from this study that neuromuscular symptoms also may improve, particularly in elderly patients.