E36 Masterclass with Todd McMullen On Thyroid Nodules by Cold Steel: Canadian Journal of Surgery Podcast

Dr. Todd McMullen is a scientist and endocrine surgeon at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. In this episode we talk to Dr. McMullen about a topic that is sometimes a pain in the neck for trainees: thyroid nodules. Dr. McMullen gives us his approach to nodules, how he works them up, a brief overview of how he does his thyroidectomies, and post op calcium management. We hope you enjoy!

Dr. Todd McMullen is a fellowship trained endocrine surgeon with specialized training in thyroid ultrasound techniques.He received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Alberta, then completed a Medical Research Council of Canada Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Physiology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having received his PhD and additional training in Physiology, Dr. McMullen went on to complete medical school at the University of Toronto and a residency in General Surgery at the University of Alberta. He further specialized in Endocrine Surgery at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia, where he finished a TS Reeve Fellowship in Endocrine Surgery.

Since that time, Dr. McMullen has been an active member of the University of Alberta staff as part of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, where he now holds positions in Surgery and Oncology (Division of General Surgery), an Adjunct appointment in the Division of Endocrinology (Department of Medicine) and also serves as the Director of the Division of Surgical Oncology (Department of Oncology) based at the Cross Cancer Institute.

In this episode we get Dr. McMullen's approach to thyroid nodules, thyroidectomies and post-op management.

Links:

1. TIRADS score: https://radiopaedia.org/articles/acr-thyroid-imaging-reporting-and-data-system-acr-ti-rads

2. South Korea's Thyroid-Cancer "Epidemic"--Turning the Tide. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26650173/

3. The 2017 Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29091573/

4. Minimally invasive thyroid surgery for single nodules: an evidence-based review of the lateral mini-incision technique.