Surgery of the Thyroid & Parathyroid Glands
 
Friday - Sunday November 7-9, 2008

Meltzer Auditorium * Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Boston, Massachusetts
 
Dear Colleague, We invite you to join over 40 national and international experts for an indepth 3-day meeting featuring surgical, medical-endocrine, radiology and pathology lectures, interdisiplinary panels and ask the professor sessions. Surgery of the Thyroid and Parathyroid Glands is intended to be a comprehensive review and update of surgery of the thyroid and parathyroid glands.
 
* Preoperative work up of both thyroid and parathyroid surgical disease with an emphasis on fine needle aspiration and preoperative parathyroid localization imaging options.
* Surgical techniques, including recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring, parathyroid identification and preservation, and intraoperative PTH analysis during parathyroid surgery.
* Minimally invasive surgical techniques.
* Preoperative in-office sonography.
* Molecular genetic analysis for medullary carcinoma and advances in oncogene research as it applies to clinical thyroid and parathyroid disease.
* Surgical philosophy regarding bilateral thyroid surgery, surgical treatment of the neck, and surgical treatment of invasive tracheal disease.
* Recognition and treatment of postoperative complications and new advances in their treatment, including thyroplasty for recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis.
* Panel discussions will be centered on management of the difficult thyroid and parathyroid cases and will invite audience participation. A syllabus will be provided.

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be skilled in the preoperative work up of the thyroid nodule and work up of the patient with hyperparathyroidism, and will be familiar with techniques of parathyroid preservation, recurrent laryngeal nerve identification and monitoring, and intraoperative PTH analysis. Participants will be aware of the management options available in the treatment of invasive thyroid disease, malignant nodal neck disease, and vocal cord paralysis and versed in the various techniques available for parathyroidectomy, including bilateral exploration, unilateral exploration, minimal access surgery, and endoscopic parathyroidectomy.

Please visit our course page at www.cme.hms.harvard.edu/courses/thyroidsurgery for additional details, course descriptions, program schedule, and registration information.