the most experienced parathyroid and thyroid surgeon in Australia

The Pasieka Parathyroidectomy Assessment Score (PAS)

 

In 1998 Professor Pasieka developed an assessment tool (PAS) to find out how primary hyperparathyroidism affected patient's lifestyle and wellbeing.  Many of these symptoms develop insidiously and are not recognised. Professor Pasieka demonstrated that the majority of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism, even those who have been labelled as "asymptomatic", often have significant symptoms. More importantly she was able to demonstrate, as shown in the graph, that these symptoms improved after cure by parathyroidectomy  with the improvement continuing for up to a year (top bar graph) when compared to a control group of patients (bottom bar graph).  

 

You can take the PAS test by adding up your score to each of the following questions. A score of 0 for  question means that you are not experiencing that symptom at all, whereas a score of 100 means that you are experiencing the most extreme aspect of the symptom. 

 

0 = NO SYMPTOMS  to  

100 = MOST SEVERE SYMPTOMS

 

Do you feel tired ?                                          ...............                                              

Do you feel thirsty ?                                       ...............

Do you have mood changes ?                       ...............

Do you get joint pains ?                                 ...............

Are you always irritable ?                             ...............

Do you feel blue or depressed?                   ...............

Do you feel weak?                                          ...............

Do you get itchy skin?                                    ...............

Are you becoming forgetful?                          ...............

Do you have headaches ?                               ...............

Do you get abdominal pains?                         ...............

Do you get bone pains?                                  ...............

Do you have trouble getting out of a chair?  ...............

 

                                       TOTAL SCORE            ...............

 

If you have primary hyperparathyroidism and your score is over 200 then you are

likely to be symptomatic and affected by the disorder.  You should discuss surgery with your doctor as it is likely there will be a significant improvement in some or all of your symptoms