Parathyroid Transplant: From Autotransplant to Stem Cells Differentiation

Several decades ago, surgeons tried to solve the problem of hypoparathyroidism with auto transplant of parathyroid tissue during surgery. The transplant of autologous parathyroid glands was first described, a more than a 100 of years ago in animal models by Halsted, with 60% of success when implant parathyroids of dogs in rectus abdominis [3]. In thyroid surgery was first described in 1926 by Lahey & Murray [4,5]. Briefly, the method consists of mechanical disruption and graft of the parathyroid glands in muscle tissue (sternocleidomastoid or forearm). Until now it is described several methods of auto transplant, grafting the tissue into small pieces of 1 x 1 mm in pockets muscle [6] or disintegrated tissue is injected intramuscularly and subcutaneously with a blunt needle [7,8]. The effectiveness of this procedure has been demonstrated in a high percentage of cases. A prospective study of 104 consecutive autografting in patients undergoing thyroid surgery (total or subtotal resection), show a 99% of successful cases (103 cases) [9].