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Thyroid & parathyroid

Parathyroid nonmalignant

Ectopic parathyroid tissue

Author: Monika Roychowdhury, M.D.

Last author update: 1 January 2013

Last staff update: 20 January 2021

Copyright: 2003-2023, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

PubMed Search: Ectopic parathyroid tissue[TIAB]

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Table of Contents

Definition / general | Sites | Case reports | Microscopic (histologic) images

Cite this page: Roychowdhury M. Ectopic parathyroid tissue. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/parathyroidectopicPTH.html. Accessed June 3rd, 2023.

Definition / general

Estimated incidence of 35%; due to aberrant migration during early stages of development
Common etiology of persistent or recurrent hyperparathyroidism when missed at initial diagnosis (Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 2012;120:604)
Often symptomatic due to hyperplasia associated with secondary hyperparathyroidism
Often symmetrical from side to side, even when ectopic, making localization somewhat easier (eMedicine: Embryology of the Thyroid and Parathyroids [Accessed 24 July 2017])
Can undergo adenomatous change and cause primary hyperparathyroidism, hypercalcemia and acute pancreatitis (World J Surg Oncol 2004;2:41)
Inability to identify may lead to failure of parathyroid surgery

Sites

Axilla (Int Surg 2004;89:6)
Mediastinum (Ann Thorac Surg 1997;64:238)
Pyriform sinus (Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2002;128:71)
Thyroid gland (Nihon Rinsho 1995;53:920)
Vagus nerves of children (Arch Pathol Lab Med 1988;112:304)
Ectopic inferior parathyroids are most frequently found in anterior mediastinum, in association with thymus or thyroid gland; ectopic superior parathyroids are usually at tracheoesophageal groove or retroesophageal region (Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 2012;120:604)

Case reports