Hyperparathyroid UK (HPT UK)
Action4Change
It's NOT All About the Levels...
HPT UK A4C
It's Not
All About the Levels
Est. 02.09.2014
The following UK surgeons are recommended by our members based on multiple positive reviews. UK surgeons known to operate on normocalcaemic patients are limited, indicated below with an asterisk.
BAETS published audits in 2024 for years 2020 - 2023: https://baets.org.uk/reports/ The absence of audits during these years made it difficult for patients to choose a surgeon. We depended entirely on patient feedback. The audits were enlightening, but didn't impact our recommended surgeons.
Paul Dent * Croydon. Exclusively NHS Home | Croydon Health Services NHS Trusthttps://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/
Rachel Brindle - Salford Royal, Manchester
https://www.northerncarealliance.nhs.uk/patient-information/getting-here/salford-royal
Shad Khan * - Oxford Oxford University Hospitals (ouh.nhs.uk)
https://thefoscotehospital.co.uk/consultants/mr-shad-khan/
Note: Oxford Hospitals do not accept NHS referrals from outside their catchment area.
Matthew Ward * - Portsmouth https://www.porthosp.nhs.uk/departments-and-services/ear-nose-and-throat-ent
Home | Solent Parathyroid | Portsmouth
Tom Kurzawinski - UCLH University College Hospital : University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (uclh.nhs.uk)
Tarek Abdel-Aziz * - UCLH University College Hospital : University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (uclh.nhs.uk)Mr Tarek Abdel-Aziz | Cleveland Clinic London
Susannah Shore * - Liverpool https://www.liverpoolft.nhs.uk
Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (rlbuht.nhs.
Beverley Lim - Sheffield https://www.sth.nhs.uk/
Alison Waghorn * - Liverpool https://www.liverpoolft.nhs.ukRoyal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (rlbuht.nhs.
Richard Townsley - Ayrshire
https://www.nhsaaa.net/services/hospitals/university-hospital-crosshouse/
Edward Chisholm - Taunton and Somerset
https://www.somersetft.nhs.uk/ent/https://somersetent.co.uk/about-mr-chisholm/
Orla Young - Galway https://www.saolta.ie/hospital/university-hospital-galway
Jennifer Downs * - Bournemouth General Surgery Staff - Royal Bournemouth Hospital - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Hani Nasef * - Portsmouth https://www.porthosp.nhs.uk/departments-and-services/ear-nose-and-throat-ent
Enyo Ofo - SW London https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/
https://www.newvictoria.co.uk/consultants/mr-enyi-ofo/
Mamun Rashid - Bedfordshire Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Frank Agada * - York https://www.yorkhospitals.nhs.uk
We can recommend surgeons based on experiences from our members but it is still important for you to chart your levels and do your own research. If you have elevated calcium, elevated PTH, and positive scans, you are a straightforward diagnostic case for any experienced parathyroid surgeon, but scans cant always be relied upon. We cant stress that enough and base it upon surgical results of hyperparathyroid patients over the last ten years. Ask if your surgeon will locate all glands and-or test PTH intraoperatively and at what interval after removing diseased glands, to give yourself the best chance of a first time cure.
If you have persistent elevated PTH, or inappropriate PTH with normal calcium, and symptoms of PHPT, you need a surgeon who understands normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism and is prepared to operate.
We find it bewildering how so many UK surgeons still do not accept NCPHPT exists, who refuse surgery based on calcium not being high enough. Look at our case stories for examples of people whose lives were miserably blighted by poor health for decades with NCPHPT (including my own) or look up population based studies dating back to 1969. We have some amazing surgeons providing surgical evidence and changing lives by operating, Not everybody with NCPHPT will progress to classic PHPT, so it is vital to find a surgeon prepared to operate before this disease causes long-term and sometimes irreversible damage to your body. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE UP.
Do your own research, and ask your doctors to do the same. You are not obliged to stay in your catchment area if your surgeon refuses surgery.
Oxford Hospitals management are not taking out of area patients but will accept patients from surrounding areas such as Berkshire.
A reminder to ask your surgeons to test magnesium levels after surgery. Most people we see readmitted after surgery, have hypomagnesemia, (<0.75) which is most likely to occur in patients going into surgery with low or low in the range magnesium, i.e. having been prescribed Cinacalcet, PPIs or with fibromyalgia, diabetes, hypothyroidism. This study describes changes in serum magnesium levels during cinacalcet therapy:
https://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0026/ea0026oc3.2
That moment you give advice, they don't listen, and you sit back and watch everything you predicted happen. We would much rather they listened, or did their own up date research.
If your surgeon refuses to test Magnesium, ask them to read this study from February 2024 and ask why they don't know this or if it will change their opinion. Magnesium is a very cheap blood test for the NHS
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37922091/ 'Hypomagnesemia may be associated with symptomatic disease in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism'
Share your feedback with us to help other patients.
If you've had a great experience with a parathyroid surgeon not on our recommended list, please contact us to share your feedback. Equally, please let us know about negative experiences. If you're a surgeon and would like to be listed above, please ask your patients to join our 'FB group' to share their feedback with us.
The following surgeons have received positive feedback from our non-UK members:
Dr Babak Larian * http://www.hyperparathyroidmd.com/
Julie Miller Melbourne, Australia
http://www.parathyroid.com.au/julie-miller-endocrine-surgeon.html
Ming Yew * Perth Australia http://drmingyew.com.au/parathyroid.php
Jesse Pasternak Toronto, Canada: Jesse Pasternak | Department of Surgery (utoronto.ca)
Dean Lisewski Perth Australia https://www.ptcc.com.au/
Leigh Dunbridge Sydney Australia
https://www.parathyroidandthyroidsurgeon.com.au/fhh-familial-hypocalciuric-hypercalcemia
Scott Albert Syracuse US NY Upstate Hospital. Oncologist specialising in Parathyroidectomy.
Dr Janusic Croatia http://www.drjanusic.com/Pocetna.html
Marlon Guerrero Tucson University Medical Center. Arizona, US.
Richard Welsh PR Consultant 'FHVG':
"Properly vetting a doctor before surgery is crucial, especially since the result of that surgery affects the quality of life you experience afterward. There are differences in the talents of surgeons, so being equipped to choosing the one you feel most comfortable and confident in is extremely useful."
If your surgeon wants to delay surgery to wait for your calcium levels to increase, or until you have osteoporosis and/or kidney stones, or if they say other patients are a higher priority, please exercise your right to a second opinion. Find out the number of parathyroid operations per year your proposed surgeon performs. Please feel free to contact us to ask our members about their experiences with the same surgeon.
Surgeons should make every effort to cure you first time. We know too well the consequences of a failed surgery and how hard it can be trying to get re-operative surgery for persistent hyperparathyroidism.
If your surgeon refuses to offer a 4-gland exploration (recommended in NICE guidelines: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG132), it is important to ask why. It is also important to ask if they test PTH intraoperatively and how soon after surgery they will test calcium and PTH, and it is important to ask about follow up should your surgery not be successful.
We strongly believe all surgeons should offer post op advice in the weeks following surgery rather than simply discharge you back into the care of your GP without instructions for post op care including required blood tests and supplements. We have post op instructions and advice in our files. Please contact us if appropriate post op follow up has not been provided.
Many people experience symptoms of a post-op 3rd day calcium reduction, and will need to supplement with vitamin D, magnesium and increase dietary calcium and/or take a supplement, even if their blood calcium levels are adequate.
Please get in touch with us if you are concerned about post op bone remineralisation and how to look after yourself in the days, weeks and months following surgery. We cant stress enough, how important this is. Not everybody will recover immediately from surgery, some take longer. A parathyroidectomy will halt the progress of hyperparathyroidism. if some symptoms persist, we can likely help you to understand why and offer advice and support via our Facebook support group. Go to our Endocrinologists page to see two articles regarding post op hungry bone syndrome,
If any clinician believes that sick patients enjoy having to research their condition, please understand that many of us feel we have no option if we are to survive it. Faced with a clinician we are relying on to help us, who isn't up to date, is very daunting. We all understand what 'fighting for my life' implies. Fight or flight is 'an instinctive physiological response to a threatening situation which readies one to resist forcibly or run away.'
An example is when a patient is told that hyperparathyroidism doesn't cause cardiac disease. Oh dear, that is so untrue. Please read the following review, and my latest blog, or do your own research, and catch up with us; 'This review evaluates current studies and relationships between parathyroid disease and the cardiovascular system and highlights the important implications for mortality and morbidity stemming from these disorders'.
The Parathyroid Gland and Heart Disease - PMC (nih.gov)
Primary Hyperparathyroidism can be a very lonely, debilitating disease, especially when friends, family and doctors don't understand how much we are suffering, or how worried we become when we find we have done much more research than the doctors in charge of our health.
Reaching out to others who do understand, and found themselves on the same path, or have recovered after surgery, can help you throughout your journey to surgery and beyond. Please consider joining our online support group. We likely have people in your area of the UK who can offer you local support and advice.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HyperparathyroidUKAction4Change/
A friend recently called us the 'Facebook Hyperpara Clinic'.. open 24 hours, friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable..
Normohormonal PHPT: Elevated/high normal calcium & non suppressed PTH.
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NHPHPT is a distinct form of Primary Hyperparathyroidism. Here is a link from a 2017 study: https://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract/27866715
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Here is a case study of a 57 years old asymptomatic patient from the Oxford Journal of Endocrinology: https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/91/10/3826/2656399.
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An extract from the conclusion: Patients with PHPT and either elevated or normal PTH levels present with similar symptoms and calcium levels. The majority of patients with normal PTH have SGD, although adenomas are smaller. This may explain why patients with normal PTH values have less sensitive imaging and more frequently require four-gland exploration. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1245/s10434-011-1744-x.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37772923/ Intraoperative Parathyroid Hormone Monitoring In Normohormonal Primary Hyperparathyroidism: How Low Do You Go?