Sonographic features of atypical and initially missed parathyroid adenomas: Lessons learned from a single center cohort

Abstract Context Awareness of typical and atypical ultrasonographic (US) features of parathyroid adenomas (PAs) is crucial since US is the most widely used first-line imaging modality. Objective The purpose of this study was to describe the atypical features of PAs on US and other possible factors leading to a false negative examination in a large single-center cohort. Materials and Methods The US records of 457 PAs in 445 patients with biochemically proven primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) were evaluated in a prospectively maintained database. Atypical size, composition, shape, echogenicity, location, and vascular pattern on US were noted. For patients who previously had at least one negative US examination in referring centers, the main possible reason was defined accordingly. Results The study group included 359 female and 86 male patients with PHPT. Typical sonographic features were observed in 231 PAs (51%), whereas 226 (49%) had at least one atypical US feature. The most common atypical features were atypical size (29%), followed by atypical echogenicity (19%), shape (8%), location (7%), and composition (7%), respectively. There were 122 initially missed PAs in all groups. The most frequent main atypical US features leading to false negative examinations were atypical size (22.1%) and atypical location (18.8%). Inexperience was third most common reason (16.3%) for false negative US examinations. Conclusions Almost half of PAs have at least one atypical feature on US. Awareness of the high prevalence of atypical US features could increase the accuracy of US examination and potentially decrease demand for more expensive second-line imaging modalities.