Endocrine Surgery Program

The Endocrine Surgery Program at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s Digestive Disease Institute provides specialized treatment for diseases of the thyroid, parathyroid, pancreas, and adrenal glands.

This program is led by a team of surgical subspecialists who have completed focused training in the diagnosis and treatment of endocrine diseases. These endocrine experts work closely with Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s medical endocrinologists in the Medical Subspecialties Institute and perform a large number of endocrine surgeries each year.

What We Treat

Our endocrine surgeons have extensive experience in the treatment of disorders of the endocrine system, which includes the thyroid, parathyroid, pancreas, and adrenal glands. Additionally, we focus on diseases that are hereditary (and therefore tend to occur in members of the same family), diseases that repeat or return, and diseases that affect multiple glands. Some of the conditions treated by the Endocrine Surgery Program include:

Thyroid

• Thyroid nodules: Abnormal growth of cells on the thyroid.
• Cysts: Growths on the thyroid that are filled with fluid.
• Goiter: Enlargement of the thyroid gland.
• Thyroid cancers: Thyroid cancers include papillary cancers, follicular cancer, and medullary cancer. They can occur as poorly differentiated cancer or anaplastic cancer (cancers that involve highly abnormal tumor cells that tend to grow and spread quickly), metastatic cancer (cancer that spreads), recurrent cancers (cancer that returns), and advanced stage cancer.
• Hyperthyroidism: Overactivity of the thyroid gland, resulting in too much thyroid hormone in the bloodstream. Includes Graves' disease and toxic nodules.

Parathyroid

• Parathyroid tumors: Abnormal growths on the parathyroid gland(s).
• Hyperparathyroidism: Overactivity of the parathyroid gland(s), resulting in elevated calcium levels in the blood.

Adrenal tumors

• Nonfunctional adrenal tumors: Tumors that do not produce hormones and therefore do not cause syndromes or diseases. These tumors are usually benign.
• Functional adrenal tumors and nodules: Tumors that do not produce hormones and cause certain diseases and syndromes, such as Cushing's disease and hyperthyroidism.

At the Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, our team of specialists is highly trained in a variety of procedures designed to diagnose and treat endocrine disorders.

Diagnosis of Endocrine Disease

At our Imaging Institute, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has a team of dedicated radiologists and state-of-the-art diagnostic capabilities which include ultrasonography, CT scan, MRI, and nuclear medicine studies. We work closely with our endocrinologists in the Medical Subspecialties Institute, who care for patients before and after endocrine surgery.

Treatment with Endocrine Surgery

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s Endocrine Surgery Program provides access to the latest minimally invasive techniques, putting Patients First and helping them to recover as quickly as possible. Some surgeries, like operations to remove adrenal tumors, can be performed as cutting-edge, robotically-assisted surgeries that result in less pain and lower requirements for pain medication for the patient. Most of the thyroid and parathyroid surgeries performed at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi are performed through small incisions that help promote healing, reduce postoperative pain, and speed up the patient’s recovery. Additionally, there is an entire nursing floor dedicated to the care of surgical patients who are admitted as inpatients to assist in their recovery process.