The Mechanism of Postoperative Tetany in Graves' Disease

Abstract

The levels of serum calcium (Ca), inorganic phosphate (P) and mid-molecular parathyroid hormone (PTH) were measured in 37 patients with Graves' disease (12 in hyperthyroid state, 25 in euthyroid state followed by subtotal thyroidectomy), 6 with papillary carcinoma of the thyroid, 8 with benign nodular goiter and 19 healthy control subjects in order to investigate the change in these levels before and after thyroidectomy. The levels of serum Ca and P of the hyperthyroid patients with Graves' disease were 9.73 +/- 0.30 mg/dl and 4.47 +/- 0.44 mg/dl, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of healthy control subjects. No significant difference in the levels of serum PTH was observed between hyperthyroid patients with Graves' disease and healthy control subjects. The levels of serum Ca, P and PTH of euthyroid patients with Graves' disease were not significantly different from those of healthy control subjects. In the patients with Graves' disease who had undergone subtotal thyroidectomy followed by postoperative tetany, serum Ca and serum PTH decreased significantly from 9.39 +/- 0.45 mg/dl to 7.90 +/- 0.33 mg/dl and from 406.6 +/- 164.4 pg/ml to 229.9 +/- 136.0 pg/ml, respectively, after surgery, but there was no change in serum P. In the patients without postoperative tetany, serum Ca and serum P decreased significantly after surgery from 9.65 +/- 0.36 mg/dl to 9.15 +/- 0.33 mg/dl and from 4.03 +/- 0.46 mg/dl to 3.47 +/- 0.54 mg/dl, respectively, without any change in the levels of serum PTH. In the patients with papillary carcinoma or benign nodular goiter without postoperative tetany, the levels of serum Ca, P and PTH did not change after surgery. In the patients with papillary carcinoma followed by postoperative tetany, serum Ca decreased significantly after surgery with concomitant decrease of serum PTH. It was concluded that excessive thyroid hormones influenced Ca metabolism, and the transient tetany following subtotal thyroidectomy for Graves' disease seemed to be due to both the absorption of Ca by hungry bone and parathyroid hypofunction.