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NEW PROCEDURE TO CORRECT HYPERPARATHYROIDISM
Are you feeling a bit run down, or a little depressed? Maybe you’re suffering from weakness, fatigue, or muscle pain? Does your abdomen hurt, or it is painful to urinate? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be experiencing the effects of hyperparathyroidism, or an overactive parathyroid gland.
Hyperparathyroidism is a chronic condition caused when one or more of the four parathyroid glands, found near the thyroid, secrete too much parathyroid hormone (PTH). The condition leads to unusually high levels of calcium in the bloodstream. According to the National Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases Information Service, bones then may lose calcium and thin; or too much calcium is absorbed from food, and may increase in the urine — resulting in kidney stones.
Because symptoms of hyperparathyroidism can be similar to other illnesses, and some people show no symptoms at all, it may take a blood test to discover the condition. As many as 100,000 people are diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism each year; and twice as many women as men are found to have too much PTH.
The good news, however, is routine blood work usually finds the presence of too much calcium in the bloodstream, and there is a new surgical procedure to correct hyperparathyroidism — small incision parathyroid surgery — which has a 95 percent cure rate.
“Small incision surgery of the parathyroid is a relatively new surgical technique designed to help patients with hyperparathyroidism,” said Daniel Reichenbach, M.D. (left), a surgeon who joined Carolina Surgical Care in March. “Technology allows us to locate the parathyroid gland, or glands, responsible for overproducing the hormone, isolate it or them from the others, and then precisely remove the troublesome gland, or glands, without disturbing the normal glands, or risking injury to important nerves in the neck.”
Surgery is typically done on an outpatient basis, and involves a one-inch long horizontal incision in the neck, and the removal of only the targeted parathyroid gland. The entire procedure usually takes about one hour, and because it’s small incision surgery, most patients can resume normal activity the same day; and they usually recover fully in a matter of a few days.
“Your discomfort will be minimal, and you may even only need to take an over-the-counter pain reliever, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen — instead of a prescribed pain medicine,” said Dr. Reichenbach. “If you suffer from chronic fatigue, kidney stones, or other parathyroid-related illnesses, ask your physician if small incision parathyroid surgery is right for you. It could be the simple answer to the problems you’ve been experiencing.”
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