For decades, surgery has been the standard treatment for thyroid symptoms, despite a benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous) diagnosis. With technology breakthroughs and the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of the minimally invasive STARmed RFA system to treat thyroid nodules, surgery is no longer the only resort for patients with benign, symptomatic thyroid nodules.
Meet Dr. Emad Kandil; the first endocrine surgeon who has successfully performed over 150 Thyroid Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) procedures in the United States. As an expert in thyroid surgery, Dr. Kandil spent most of his years researching and teaching treatment options for patients with thyroid nodules. After the STARmed RFA system was FDA cleared in the United States, Dr. Kandil was one of the first pioneers to adopt this novel technology and received extensive education and training in both Italy and South Korea. Today, he has become the most experienced thyroid RFA specialist in the country to benefit patients with this minimally invasive procedure.
Dr. Kandil acquired his medical degree at Cairo University School of Medicine, Egypt in 1997. After he moved to the United States, he furthered his studies at New York University (NYU) and John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Driven by his passion for endocrine treatment, he went on to become a world leader in endocrine surgery, currently serving as the professor and Elias Hanna Chair in Surgery and Chief of General, Endocrine and Oncological Surgery Division at the Tulane University Hospital, New Orleans, LA.
Dr.Kandil’s Passion is to Promote Better Treatment Options for Patients
In his funded laboratory, Dr. Emad Kandil and his team possess a particular interest in the surveillance of thyroid cancer to identify and predict patients who may not need any surgical procedures versus those who will do poorly. Certain types of nodules still need a surgical procedure, these count for about 2-8% of identified nodules1. Dr. Kandil works actively to ensure every thyroid patients’ eligibility to undergo a less invasive treatment rather than a surgical operation, as he expressed “currently in the US, we perform over 100,000 thyroid surgeries a year, and I believe that many of these operations can be completely avoided and we can completely prevent having these patients undergo these operations by radiofrequency ablation.” As a result of his passion and effort in finding better ways to treat and identify early nodules, Dr. Emad Kandil is actively involved in research and education of less invasive treatments, with several clinical studies under preparation.
In all respects, Dr. Emad Kandil is a master in thyroid treatment and is one of the best at performing thyroid surgery in the United States. His proven success with 150 thyroid RFA procedures shows his expertise in what he does and his true passion to advocate better treatment options for patients, “I think this [Thyroid RFA] is the future. It’s going to make a huge impact in the way we treat our patients…no cutting, no incision, and the patients have a cure for their disease.” Patient reviews point out how extremely knowledgeable he is in thyroid nodule treatment procedures and how he is revered for having excellent bedside manners with patients. His research on endocrine and thyroid nodules has contributed to much advancement in thyroid treatment. In our next blog, we will go into details about his most recent clinical study, published in Jan 2021 on the Techniques and Procedural Aspects of Radiofrequency Ablation of Thyroid Nodules.
👆🏻Click here if you are interested to speak with Dr.Emad Kandil in New Orlean, LA.
