HYPERPARATHYROIDISM DUE TO IDIOPATHIC HYPERTROPHY (HYPERPLASIA?) OF PARATHYROID TISSUE

Abstract

In 1934 the first paper on this subject from the clinic of the Massachusetts General Hospital was published.¹In that report three cases of hyperparathyroidism, from a series of nineteen cases of the condition in which the diagnosis was proved by operation, were cited in which pathologic examination showed what was then termed diffuse hyperplasia of all parathyroid tissue, rather than one or more circumscribed adenomas. It was pointed out that these cases represented a separate disease entity. Since that time the total number of cases of proved hyperparathyroidism at the Massachusetts General Hospital has increased to thirty-five, and the number of cases of "hyperplasia" has increased to six. As far as we are aware, a diagnosis of hyperplasia has not been made during life in other clinics, and these six patients remain a unique group. This paper is a follow-up report of the six cases. Some of the