Techniques of identifying parathyroid glands and their related clinical research progress / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Parathyroid glands play an important role in calcium and phosphorus metabolism in human beings.The complete preservation of parathyroid glands during neck surgery is crucial in avoiding postoperative hypoparathyroidism and hypocalcemia.At present,most thyroid operations still rely on traditional visual identification or intraoperative freezing to identify parathyroid glands.The former depends on the experience of the surgeon,while the latter needs longer time and costs much.Recently,researchers have conducted relevant studies on intraoperative staining techniques and fluorescent-based imaging techniques that are helpful for the identification of parathyroid glands,such as methylene blue,carbon nanoparticles suspension,near-infrared autofluorescence,indocyanine green angiography,and laser speckle contrast imaging.The above-mentioned techniques all have significantly improved the identification and protection of parathyroid glands.This article reviews the progress in clinical research on intraoperative identification of parathyroid glands.