Primary Hyperparathyroidism Observations in a Series of 50 Cases

Hyperparathyroidism was formerly rarely diagnosed, the diagnosis usually not being made until extensive skeletal changes of the osteitis fibrosa generalisata type were present. In recent years, however, the number of cases diagnosed has appreciably increased, thanks mainly to the more widespread knowledge that renal calcification and calculi are among the most common and striking symptoms of hyperparathyroidism. This is well illustrated by my own series; 60 per cent of the cases have been diagnosed since 1950, while the remaining 40 per cent were distributed over the period 1930–1949 with 1 to 2 cases a year. Although hyperparathyroidism is now diagnosed more often than before, only a few hospitals have large series of cases and the majority of publications are based on observations from occasional cases or a small series. The disease appears in so many varying forms, however, that only by studying a sufficiently large series can conclusions of universal