Tampa
General Hospital was named one of America's
Best Hospitals for Head and Neck Surgery by US News and World
Reports, and one of America's Best Hospitals
in Endocrinology by US News and World
Reports for the past 6 years.
.
Drs Norman, Politz and Lopez, have been selected as one of
America's Top Surgeons now 8 years in a row.
Drs Norman, Politz, and Lopez are multi-time
winners of the Patient's Choice Award (top 3% of 720,000
doctors in the US) for "exceptionally high praise granted by patients"
Verify
.
Our doctors are rated in top 1% of all US doctors by US News and World
Reports.
.
.
Dr Norman, Dr Politz, and Dr Lopez, are Fellows of the American
College of Surgeons.
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Dr. Norman and Dr Politz are Fellows of the American
College of Endocrinology.
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  All
three surgeons at the Norman Parathyroid Center are by far the most
experienced parathyroid surgeons in the world. James
(Jim) Norman,
MD, FACS, FACE, is recognized as one of
world's foremost experts on parathyroid disease. Dr Norman is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
(FACS) and also a
Fellow of the American College of Endocrinology (FACE). He is recognized
as the inventor of minimally invasive radioguided parathyroid surgery in the mid
1990s, and is credited with dramatically changing the way
parathyroid surgery is performed. Dr Norman has performed over 17,000
mini-parathyroid operations.
Douglas
(Doug) Politz, MD, FACS, FACE, is an accomplished parathyroid surgeon who works side-by-side
with Dr Norman and Dr Lopez. Dr Politz trained in mini-parathyroid surgery under Dr
Norman in the late 1990's and practiced in Texas from 2000 until 2005 when he re-joined the Norman Parathyroid
Center. Dr Politz has performed
more parathyroid operations (over 12,000) than anybody in the world other than Dr
Norman and operates with Dr Norman or Dr Lopez every day.
Jose
Lopez, MD, FACS is a very talented surgeon who works side-by-side Dr
Politz and Dr Norman in the operating rooms and also performs many of our
consultations. Dr Lopez spent 5 years training at USF under Dr Norman and alongside Dr Politz.
He then completed a 1 year fellowship in minimally invasive surgery and
has become very gifted and accomplished in mini-surgical techniques
capable of tackling the most difficult operations. Dr Lopez is by far the third
most experienced parathyroid surgeon in the world.
Click
Here to read more about Dr Norman, Dr Politz, and Dr Lopez.
You Can Have Drs Norman, Politz, and Lopez Perform Your Parathyroid Surgery
Because
of the demand for mini-parathyroid surgery, their expertise, and
exceptional results, Drs Norman, Politz, and Lopez perform an average of
12
parathyroid operations per day, with an expected cure rate of over 99.5% and
a complication rate of near zero. Nearly 100% of patients will go home
within 2 hours of their parathyroid operation. Virtually 100% will have a
scar that is only 1 inch that will be essentially invisible within 6-9
months. The average operative time is less than 20 minutes with the most
parathyroid operations taking between 16 and 19 minutes. Even patients
with a negative sestamibi scan and a negative ultrasound can expect a
mini-operation that takes less than 18 minutes. The average operation time
for patients needing all 4 parathyroid glands assessed is 17
minutes--these patients are treated exactly the same...in fact, we perform
the same mini-operation on all patients, regardless of scan results. We evaluate all four parathyroid glands in
97% of all patients--the
only way to get near 100% cure. One final note... All three of our
surgeons are fantastic. You do not need Dr Norman to be your surgeon, any
of the three of these surgeons are better than anybody else in the world,
by far. And, they work in teams of two.
If you want to become our
patient, we have a
separate page that explains the process and the cost. Click
Here.
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We have two
parathyroid operations for you to watch. The more recent was
filmed August 2, 2011. This was not scripted and shows exactly how we
do this operation after over 16,500 times to practice it! People
love this new video. Zero blood, and lots to learn! Click
Here |
| The other surgery
video is located on our Teaching
Videos Page, with a couple other fantastic videos, most about 5-6
minutes long. We really like our patients to watch
these videos... They
answer a lot of questions. It is a bloodless operation! Simple, clean, no blood, very small incision, lots of
information |
The Norman Parathyroid Center is dedicated to parathyroid disease
only. We operate within the new Parathyroid Center at Tampa General
Hospital, a new wing of this large hospital dedicated to the treatment of
parathyroid disease. Drs Norman, Politz, and Lopez are the only surgeons in the world that limit
their practice to parathyroid disease.
 Dr Norman is the most experienced parathyroid surgeon in the world and
is considered the "father" of mini-parathyroid surgery. For
over 16 years Dr Norman has limited his surgical practice to parathyroid operations --
he does not perform any other type of surgery. Dr Norman performs more parathyroid operations than any other
surgeon (or institution) in the world,
now averaging about 2300 parathyroid operations annually (about 48 per
average week). Dr Norman has performed over 17,500 parathyroid operations
on patients ranging from 3 months old to 105 years old and
operates on people over the age of 80 once or twice per day and on
teenagers about every 2 weeks. He also operates several times per day on patients that
have had an unsuccessful parathyroid operation
somewhere else. It is safe to say that there probably
isn't a parathyroid problem that Dr Norman hasn't seen. A typical one-side
parathyroid operation takes Dr Norman about 8-14 minutes (total time). An
operation to look at all 4 parathyroid glands (about 96% of all people get
all four glands examined so we can approach 100% cure) typically takes Dr Norman
about 15-18 minutes (total time). Dr Norman (and everybody on his team) performs all operations via a 1
inch incision (mol).
Dr Norman has held
several important academic positions, including Professor of Surgery (with
tenure) and
Professor of Internal Medicine (with tenure) at the University of South
Florida College of Medicine. He also held the position of Director of Endocrine
Surgery at USF and the Director of Surgical Core Laboratory for Surgical
Research. Dr Norman left USF in 2000 to open the Norman Parathyroid
Center. He is currently the Director of the Parathyroid Center at Tampa
General Hospital. He is a member of more than 20
prestigious medical societies, including the American Association for
Endocrine Surgeons, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Fellow of the
American College of Endocrinology, the American Association for Clinical
Endocrinology, the Endocrine Society, the Society of University Surgeons, American Association
for Head and Neck Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the
Southeastern
Surgical Congress, the American College of Surgeons, the Association for
Academic Surgeons, the Society for Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, AOA medical
honor society (top 10% of doctors), the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, and many more.
His is one of only a handful of surgeons worldwide who is also a fellow of
the American College of Endocrinology (FACE). He was the president of his medical school class, been
voted 'Faculty of the Year' and 'Teacher of the Year' several times while at
the University of South Florida, and served many
leadership roles within the societies he belongs. He has been recognized
as one of America's Top Surgeons by the Consumer Research Council of
America for 8 years in a row. He has been awarded the "Patients Choice Award"
6 consecutive years (top 3% of 720,000 American doctors) for his bedside manor
and how he "treats" his patients. He is rated as US
News and World Reports "Top Doctors" being ranked in the top
1% of all surgeons in the US. He scored in the 99+
percentile on his surgery boards, and has served as an examiner for the
American Board of Surgery. In October of 2011 Dr Norman was chosen by the Tampa
Bay Business Journal as the most significant physician in the Tampa
Bay area for 2011, having the greatest impact on patients and the
community. Dr Norman has published more than 250 medical
journal articles as well as 12 books and/or book chapters. Most of
Dr. Norman's publications revolve around his extensive work with endocrine
disorders including
parathyroid glands, parathyroid surgery and pancreas disorders. Dr Norman
publishes medical journal articles on parathyroid disease on a
near-monthly basis. A full
copy of Dr Norman's curriculum vitae (resume') is online in PDF format--Click
Here to view.
All of Dr Norman's credentials are there, along with a full list of his
publications, etc, etc. He is married to a family practice physician
and has two incredible children (a daughter 20, and a son 17).
Dr. Norman is a frequent
speaker on the topic of parathyroid surgery, giving talks around the US on
a frequent basis. He has been an invited speaker on the topic of
minimal parathyroid surgery at the American College of Surgeons Annual
Meeting on 8 occasions (including 2011). Dr Norman
has published the 10 largest parathyroid articles of all time (most
patients) and serves as a reviewer for several medical journals. Dr
Norman holds 6 US and foreign patents (with another 3 patents pending),
including the patent for the techniques and tools used in radioguided
parathyroidectomy which recognize his contributions to minimal parathyroid surgery. Dr
Norman was a
central member of the prestigious Moffitt Cancer Center team that helped
develop sentinel lymph node mapping for breast cancer and melanoma
(which is now the preferred way to perform breast cancer and melanoma
surgery just as it is for parathyroid surgery). Dr
Norman has received more than $4.2 million in federal and industry grants to
support his research, including grants from the Department of Veteran's Affairs. Dr
Norman has never had a malpractice claim. Read Wikipedia
about Dr Norman.
More About Dr. Doug Politz, MD, FACS.
Dr. Politz obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana
State University where he was the recipient of an Honor’s Scholarship
and Leadership Scholarship. He then attended LSU Medical School where he
graduated with the Chancellor’s Award as the Most Outstanding Graduate.
He was the president of his medical school class and received multiple
honors and awards. He is a member of the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha
medical honor society (eligible to the top 10% of US medical school
graduates). Dr. Politz obtained his surgical training at the University of
South Florida, where he worked with Dr. Norman for 5 years. He was awarded
Most Outstanding Resident and/or Resident of the Year on 3 different
occasions. Similar to Drs Norman, and Lopez, Dr Politz has been awarded the
"Patients Choice Award"
6 consecutive years (top
3% of 720,000
American doctors) for his bedside manor and how he "treats" his
patients. Dr. Politz is board certified in General Surgery and a Fellow
of the American College of Surgeons (FACS), and is also a Fellow of the
American College of Endocrinology (FACE), is a member of the American
Association of Endocrine Surgeons, and is a member of the
American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (among other medical
societies). After graduating residency he practiced surgery in Austin,
Texas where he introduced MIRP mini-parathyroid surgery to the state of
Texas, building an extensive referral network making him the number one
parathyroid surgeon in Texas. With the exception of Dr Norman, Dr Politz
has performed far more parathyroid operations than any other surgeon
worldwide (over 11,000). Two of our surgeons participate in every patient's
operation, so all patients get the expertise of the two most experienced
parathyroid surgeons. Dr. Politz has never had a malpractice claim. Doug is married to Laura Politz, MD
(Obstetrics and Gynecology) and they have 3 small children, a boy 9 and
twin girls 5.
More About Dr. Jose Lopez, MD, FACS.
 Dr. Lopez was born and raised in Ponce, Puerto Rico, obtaining his Bachelor
of Science degree at the University of Puerto Rico. He attended medical
school at the University of Puerto Rico where he finished at the top of
his class and was elected AOA national medical honor society (top 10% of
all medical students) and won numerous awards for academic achievement and
leadership. He performed his surgical training including chief residency
at the University of South Florida (Tampa, FL), working under Dr Norman
and alongside Dr Politz. While at USF Dr Lopez was recognized as Most
Outstanding Resident or Resident of the Year three times. Finishing his
residency in 2004, Dr Lopez completed a 1 year fellowship in advanced
minimally invasive surgical techniques at USF. Dr Lopez has gained the
reputation of being extremely conscientious regarding the care of his
patients, and remarkably gifted in the operating room. He has been named
one of "America's Top Surgeons" annually for the past 5 years. Jose is married and
has three daughters, 14, 7 and 2 years old.
*Note: The statistics on this page do not guarantee a good
outcome for every patient, they simply reflect the fact that we do LOTS of
parathyroid operations and our expertise allows us to have exceptional
results. Our anesthesia team has done thousands. We've done thousands.
BUT--Every patient is an individual and will be treated as an
individual to have the best results with the lowest possibly risk and the
highest possible cure rate. These excellent results also shows that we follow our patients so
we always know how we are doing. We don't guess!
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