My sestamibi scan was negative, am I eligible for minimally invasive parathyroid surgery?

Yes, more than 85% of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism are eligible for minimally invasive parathyroid surgery. Many hospitals that do not perform sestamibi scan on a regular basis have false-negative scans.  When the repeat scan is performed at our center the result is frequently positive. Combining a properly performed sestamibi scan with high sensitivity surgeon performed ultrasound enables us to localize the parathyroid adenoma in over 85% of cases.  In the small percentage of cases where these imaging modalities fail to localize the parathyroid adenoma, we turn to high resolution CT or T2 weighted MRI scan to localize the adenoma. The localization of the parathyroid adenoma preoperatively is what enables us to perform minimally invasive parathyroid surgery on an ambulatory basis.