What are the postoperative concerns after parathyroid resection?

What are the postoperative concerns after parathyroid resection?

Postoperative hypocalcemia can result from inadvertent removal of all parathyroid tissue. In this case, serum calcium will fall below 8 mg/dL. With an experienced surgeon this is a rare occurrence.

Transient mild hypocalcemia often results from chronic suppression of the remaining glands by chronic hyper-calcemia. Oral calcium supplementation is usually ade-quate treatment for this. Symptomatic hypocalcemia should be treated with parenteral calcium. Prolonged hypo-calcemia (more than several days) should be treated with calcitriol, a vitamin D analogue.