Although hyperparathyroidism is relatively uncommon, with the average US surgeon performing only a few parathyroid operations every year or so for hyperparathyroidism, the Norman Parathyroid Center performs parathyroid operations exclusively--an average of 13-14 parathyroid surgeries per day--far more than any other surgeon, hospital, or clinic in the world. We consult on nearly 3,500 new parathyroid patients annually and have learned a lot from this experience. We maintain the world's largest database of parathyroid patients, allowing us to compare even the most uncommon presentation of parathyroid disease to many just like it that we have seen previously. The reason for this very high degree of specialization is that Dr Norman was the developer of minimally invasive radioguided parathyroid surgery in the mid 1990's, and since that time patients with hyperparathyroidism come from all over the US, and even from countries from around the world to have Dr Norman and his partner Dr Politz perform their parathyroid surgery.  Drs Norman, Politz and Goodman work closely with what is unquestionably the world's best nuclear radiology team, performing nearly 20-times more hyperparathyroid Sestamibi scans than any other institution world-wide (and developing many of the techniques used for this study). This level of volume and dedication to parathyroid disease has made the treatment of hyperparathyroidism a highly specialized field. Our expertise has made parathyroid surgery a very straightforward, routine outpatient procedure that usually takes about 17 minutes (total time) to evaluate all four parathyroid glands, remove the tumor, measure the amount of hormone being produced by each gland, and close the incision using plastic surgery techniques. "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door". This is clearly what has happened to our practice. Nobody can do what we do.

You Can Have Drs Norman/Politz Perform Your Parathyroid Surgery

Parathyroid surgery is very delicate surgery and the outcomes (cure rate and complication rate) are directly correlated with your surgeon's experience. Dr Norman and Dr Politz do not perform breast biopsies, gallbladder removals, hernia repairs, or perform abdominal surgery. Heck, we won't even see patients with thyroid disease unless they also have a parathyroid tumor. Parathyroid surgery is the only operation we do. And, about 17% of the surgeries we do are on people who have already had an unsuccessful parathyroid operation by a surgeon with little experience (we do between 1 and 4 re-operations every day). Click Here to read more about how to become our patient, and read our statistics for our past 12,500+ parathyroid patients (cure rate over 99%, average operating time about 18.7 minutes, essentially 100% go home between 1 and 2.5 hours, 1 inch or less incision, etc.). We fail to cure about 1 in every 235 patients with their first mini-operation. Of the few patients that we don't cure at the time of their first quick operation, we have cured all but a handful of them with a second mini operation. Thus, for our last 12,500+ patients, we have an overall cure rate of 99.8%. 

Read what our patients from all over the world say about their parathyroid surgery experience at the Norman Parathyroid Center: Click Here

The Norman Parathyroid Center tracks all hyperparathyroidism patients for several years following their parathyroid surgery. All laboratory data and surgical findings from every patient are entered into a large computer database maintained by a full time data entry employee. This is by far the largest database of parathyroid patients in the world. Thus we can use the information gained from many thousands of previous parathyroid patients as a comparison tool for all new patients. This allows us to predict who needs surgery and who is most likely to benefit from surgery. It helps us predict who will have one bad parathyroid gland and who may have more than one. This type of information helps the surgeons perform quick operations that have an extremely high cure rate. It also helps us avoid operating on people who don't need an operation! We take pride in publishing our parathyroid procedures and surgical results in some of the worlds most highly regarded medical publications. We publish major articles on hyperparathyroidism and the treatment of parathyroid disease every few months. Our team has been recognized as a top 20 hospital in Endocrinology and a top 10 hospital in Neck Surgery again in 2010 by US News and World Reports (this is the 6th year in a row!)

For information on the best way to contact us about possibly having Dr Norman, Politz, and Goodman take care of your hyperparathyroidism, see our page that outlines the different ways to phone / fax / email our staff, or submit a patient profile online--CLICK HERE.

We perform all our operations at the new Parathyroid Center @ Tampa General Hospital, a special wing of the hospital designated for parathyroid patients. This new facility was built for us by our hospital on the top floor of a new wing of the hospital. Why did we get the top floor of the new wing? Because we are doing something right! Tampa General Hospital  has been named US News and World Reports' "America's Best Hospitals" for a number of years. In 2009 our hospital was selected in 7 different medical specialties, including "head and neck surgery" and "endocrinology". Of course, when they say: "head and neck surgery" and "endocrinology" they're talking about us!

Take a video tour of our new Parathyroid Center and see the folks who will take care of you.