This article appears in the following NDT Plus issue: Parathyroid Intervention - Current themes and future perspectives [View the issue table of contents]
Pathophysiology of parathyroid hyperplasia in chronic kidney disease: preclinical and clinical basis for parathyroid intervention
Division of Nephrology and Kidney Center, Kobe University School of Medicine, Kobe 650-0017, Japan
Correspondence: Masafumi Fukagawa, Division of Nephrology and Kidney Center, Kobe University School of Medicine, 7-5-2 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan. Tel: +81-78-382-6500; Fax: +81-78-382-6509; E-mail: fukagawa{at}med.kobe-u.ac.jp
| Abstract |
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Secondary hyperparathyroidism is characterised by excessive secretion of parathyroid hormone and parathyroid hyperplasia, resulting in both skeletal and extraskeletal consequences. Recent basic and clinical studies have brought considerable advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of parathyroid hyperplasia and have also provided practical therapeutic approaches, especially with regard to indications for parathyroid intervention. In this context, it is quite important to recognize the development of nodular hyperplasia, because the cells in nodular hyperplasia are usually resistant to calcitriol treatment. Patients with nodular hyperplasia should undergo parathyroid intervention including percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT). Selective PEIT of the parathyroid gland is an effective approach in which the enlarged parathyroid gland with nodular hyperplasia is selectively destroyed by ethanol injection, and other glands with diffuse hyperplasia are then managed by medical therapy. With a more focused attention to applying parathyroid intervention, we can expect significant improvement in the management of secondary hyperparathyroidism in dialysis patients.
Key Words: chronic kidney disease fibroblast growth factor 23 parathyroid hyperplasia parathyroid intervention secondary hyperparathyroidism
Received for publication March 9, 2008. Accepted for publication March 14, 2008.