Purpose
To find out if the whole parathyroid hormone (wPTH) assay has practical advantages over the intact (iPTH) assay in patients
with Graves’ disease.
Methods
We measured iPTH and wPTH levels before and after subtotal thyroidectomy in 111 consecutive patients (94 women and 17 men)
with Graves’ disease. Blood samples for assays were obtained after the induction of anesthesia (basal) and following skin
closure (postoperative).
Results
There was a significant correlation between wPTH and iPTH in both the basal and postoperative levels. Logistic regression
analyses examining the relationship between the reduction in parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels and the incidence of tetany
revealed that both the wPTH and iPTH assays were significantly equally predictive of postoperative tetany.
Conclusion
We found that both the wPTH and iPTH assays were useful for predicting postoperative tetany in patients with Graves’ disease,
yielding similar results.
Key words Intraoperative parathyroid hormone - Whole parathyroid hormone - Intact parathyroid hormone - Graves’ disease