What to do when the parathyroid gland is not found during a transcervical exploration

The most frequent cause of suboptimal results in a parathyroid adenoma resection is an ectopic location, mainly in the anterior mediastinum. These cases may not always be resected through a traditional cervical access. We present 2 cases of primary hyperparathyroidism who underwent an unsuccessful bilateral cervical exploration due to parathyroid tissue located inside the thymic gland. A video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery thymectomy with intraoperative determination of blood parathormone levels was performed. A 50% reduction of intraoperatory parathyroid hormone blood from the highest basal level at 5 and 10 min after resection was obtained. Final pathological results showed an intra-thymic parathyroid adenoma in the first patient and an intra-thymic focus of parathyroid hyperplasia in the second patient. In conclusion, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery thymectomy could be the optimal approach to resect ectopic parathyroid adenomas located in the anterior mediastinum.