RAPID IDENTIFICATION OF NORMAL PARATHYROID-GLANDS BY PRESENCE OF INTRACELLULAR FAT

Abstract

Staining of frozen sections of small parathyroids biopsies from patients with primary hyperparathyroidism with Sudan II or IV revealed the almost uniform presence of numerous prominent intracellular sudanophilic bodies in the chief cells of suppressed normal parathyroid glands. These sudanophilic bodies were generally absent from the abnormal chief cells of parathyroid adenomas and chief cell hyperplasias. This difference in intracellular lipid provides a rapid, reliable and easy method for distinguishing at the time of parathyroid exploration between an adenoma which is always accompanied by normal parathyroid glands and a chief cell hyperplasia in which all of the glands are abnormal.