CERTAIN ARTHRITIC DISTURBANCES ASSOCIATED WITH PARATHYROIDISM

¹ Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Virginia

1. Arthritis is very common in parathyroid disease.

2. Parathyroid disease is frequent in arthritis, either as a primary cause or secondarily as the result of a common etiological factor. It may be recognized by symptoms of paroxysmal pain in the spine and abdomen, deformity of the spine, and x-ray evidence of demineralization.

3. The diagnosis may be substantiated by means of repeated blood and urine calcium determinations and chronaxia.

4. There is almost immediate relief of pain and a feeling of relaxation in the joints following parathyroidectomy.

5. In the milder cases, when it is not possible to make an absolute diagnosis and in poor surgical risks, treatment by means of cod-liver oil concentrate and calcium gluconate accompanied by conservative orthopaedic treatment may lead to improvement and arrest of the disease, at least temporarily.

6. The operations for the removal of the parathyroids, all of which have been performed by Dr. Ballin, have not been accompanied in any instance by tetany or shock, and can be considered sufficiently harmless to justify the procedure in even the milder cases.

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