Our body still holds many secrets. Even in our time, scientists receive the Nobel Prizes in medicine, although it would seem that everything is known about the human body. Knowledge is painstakingly recorded precisely because, alas, doctors more often learn precisely from mistakes. So it was with organs called the parathyroid glands.
The fact is that doctors did not suspect their existence until the beginning of the 20th century. However, from time to time after surgery on the neck, patients died in severe, painful convulsions. Yes, this was because doctors accidentally removed the parathyroid glands. And they manage in our body the control of the exchange of calcium and phosphorus. Each parathyroid gland produces parathyroid hormone.
Its functions are diverse. So, the parathyroid hormones :
- Provide normal transmission of nerve impulses;
- Subordinate muscle contraction is made possible;
- Promote proper bone formation.
It is interesting that each person has a quantity of these glands. There can be only 2, but there can be 12, although most often there are 4. They look like rice grains and have a size of only 10mm in length. They did not receive due attention, and yet their task is unusually responsible. The normal level of calcium in the blood and tissues has a very narrow corridor, that is, the slightest deviation can make human life itself impossible. Therefore, each parathyroid gland is a worker of the invisible front, who is trying hard to ensure that nerve impulses pass normally and the muscles respond on time.
These organs are located near the thyroid gland. Each parathyroid gland as if “hides” behind the thyroid. But their functions are not connected, they are completely different functionally organs.
Sometimes one parathyroid gland or several glands begin to behave too actively. Such a disease is called hyperparathyroidism. In this state of iron, it suddenly begins to produce a completely inadequate amount of the hormone. She disables the response on the basis of feedback. Normally, production is inhibited if the level of calcium in the blood matches the values of the narrowest corridor that you read about above. At the same time, a person always feels fatigued and tired, he begins osteoporosis with a normal, balanced diet.
What is the cause of hyperparathyroidism? Most often (in 95% of all cases) it is a tumor. However, one should not be afraid, as a rule, such neoplasms are benign. That is, it is not cancer at all. Such a tumor is called hyperparathyroid adenoma. It usually occupies the entire gland and it is she who begins to synthesize the hormone in a crazy amount, without reacting to blood calcium.
Usually in this disease, one parathyroid gland secretes all the hormone in the body. The activity of the rest is inhibited, because they note an abnormal level of calcium and stop working.
Only in one case out of 2500 does such a tumor become malignant. However, measures must be taken as soon as this neoplasm is detected. The fact is that an increased amount of calcium destroys different tissues, perhaps not very quickly, but true. A pathologically enlarged parathyroid gland may well become the size of a walnut. Therefore, patients often themselves notice the abnormality of their neck, and the doctor will also see it.
How to diagnose parathyroidism for sure? Firstly, by the amount of calcium in the blood serum. And secondly, by the amount of calcium in the urine that is collected per day.
Healthy kidneys will try to excrete as much calcium in the urine as possible, so in patients whose kidneys work relatively well, this can be a very accurate diagnostic criterion for the presence of the disease.
How is parathyroidism treated? With the help of minimally invasive surgery, which lasts no more than 20 minutes. So do not hesitate with the treatment - the sooner you see a doctor, the faster calcium will cease to destroy your body.