The Diagnostic Accuracy of High Resolution Ultrasound Imaging for Detection of Secondary Hyperparathyroidism in Patients with Chronic Renal Failure

Ultrasound is one of the preferred modalities for evaluation of the parathyroid glands. This study was undertaken to determine the accuracy of high resolution ultrasound for secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with chronic renal failure. From March 2008 to March 2009, ninety-one hemodialysis patients were examined by high resolution ultrasound (14 MHz) of the parathyroid glands in comparison to parathyroid hormone level. 43.9% of patients showed enlarged parathyroid glands with an average of 8.7 mm. The mean parathyroid hormone level of patients with enlarged parathyroid glands on sonography was 503 ± 450 pg/ml. We observed a significant correlation between parathyroid hormone level and enlarged parathyroid glands (P<0.0001). Sensitivity and specificity of sonography for detection of secondary hyperparathyroidism were 62.5% and 85.7% respectively. In conclusion, our study showed that high resolution sonography is a useful noninvasive method for the evaluation of secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients on hemodialysis and that sonographically enlarged glands may be a measure of severity of secondary hyperparathyroidism.