Development of a Rapid Intraoperative Point-of-Care Method Using Tissue Suspension to Differentiate Parathyroid Tissue: A Possible Substitute for Frozen Sections

Abstract

Background

We reported that aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) ratio of a tissue suspension can precisely differentiate normal and hyperfunctioning parathyroid tissue (PT) from other tissues. However, in these studies, LDH and AST were measured using the standard method for blood samples, with a turnaround time of approximately 1 h, hampering clinical application. Here, we developed a rapid and robust method to differentiate PT instead of using frozen sections.

Methods

Excised specimens from 28 patients (n = 69) who underwent thyroid or parathyroid surgery between October 2019 and April 2020 were analyzed. AST and LDH were measured in suspensions of PT or other tissues, using both the standard method in the in-facility laboratory and a point-of-care testing device (NX500, Fujifilm, Japan).

Results and conclusions

A good correlation was found between the standard method and NX500 for AST and LDH levels >10 IU/L. In the analyses using 52 specimens with ≥ 10 IU/L of both AST and LDH measured using the NX500, PT was distinguished with 100% sensitivity and specificity using an optimal cutoff AST/LDH ratio of 0.48. The turnaround time was estimated to be less than 10 min. This method could be a cost- and labor-effective alternative to frozen sections to reduce the incidence of postoperative hypoparathyroidism and improve the outcome of primary hyperparathyroidism in low-resource areas.