Inherited forms, affecting a minority of patients, lead to hyperfunctioning parathyroid glands. Importantly, hyperparathyroidism is rarely caused by parathyroid cancer characterised by severe hypercalcaemia.
Diagnosis occurs through testing for a concurrent elevated serum calcium level with a raised or inappropriately normal (i.e., non-suppressed) plasma PTH level.
In approximately 80% of cases, over-production of PTH is due to a single parathyroid adenoma and, less commonly, multi-gland involvement may occur.
is an endocrine disorder in which autonomous overproduction of parathyroid hormone (PTH) results in derangement of calcium metabolism.
