570 



OSKAK K.LOTZ 



Tumors of the Parathyroid 



Primary Neoplasms. True tumors of the parathyroid are indeed rare, 

 and very few reports of them are found in the literature. The majority of 

 the cases which have been reported have been described as adenomata, 

 while malignant types of tumors have been observed by only a few men. 

 There is still discussion concerning the nature of many of these benign ade- 

 nomata, inasmuch as some claim that the tissue mass represents a process 



of hyperplasia, rather 

 than a true neoplasm. 

 These benign tumors 

 usually consist of small 

 nodules from two to 

 four centimeter's in 

 diameter, which occupy 

 a part or whole of the 

 involved glandule (Fig. 

 2). It is possible that, 

 as in the thyroid, these 

 small tumor masses 

 would be found with 

 greater frequency if 

 systematic examination 

 of the structures were 

 undertaken at every au- 

 topsy. It is unusual to 

 have a search made for 

 the parathyroids at au- 

 topsy, unless some clin- 

 ical manifestations, or 



an interest in a specific problem, urges the pathologist to spend sufficient 

 time to uncover them, and to make proper microscopical observations. It 

 is only when the parathyroid has attained, through tumor, a sufficient size 

 to give rise to a projecting mass at the borders of the thyroid that adequate 

 attention is given. 



Since the parathyroids normally lie, not only along the posterior bor- 

 der and towards each pole of the lobes of the thyroid, but also they may 

 be buried p to a greater or less depth amidst the tissues of the thyroid, it 

 is possible that aberrant change and tumor formation may readily occur 

 and go unrecognized. Under the conditions of hyperplasia and benign 

 tumor formation, the parathyroid glandules assume a variety of char- 

 acters sometimes quite different from that of the normal tissue, and 

 although not resembling the normal thyroid tissue, may be confused with 





Fi#. 2. Adenoma of parathyroid, comparable to a 

 diffuse hyperplasia. 



