3 July 2019
Colleagues at Kingston Hospital have welcomed the introduction of a new intra-operative PTH analyser. The new analyser is used in the operating theatre during surgery for patients undergoing removal of benign parathyroid tumours as a curative treatment for primary hyperparathyroidism.
Trained Clinical Scientists and Biomedical Scientists are present in the operating theatre to measure PTH levels pre-operatively before the tumour is removed and 10 minutes post-operatively. A greater than 50% reduction in PTH concentration indicates that the surgery has been successful.
The turnaround time for the test using the new analyser is around 10 minutes, whereas previously it would have been at least an hour. This exciting new point-of-surgery testing allows quicker skin closure time and reduces the time the patient spends under anaesthesia, which is better for the patient’s recovery and means that theatre time can be maximised as the operation is shorter.
SWLP at Kingston Hospital is the first NHS trust in south west London to introduce this type of testing.
