Your Surgeon

Choosing your surgeon for Thyroid or Parathyroid Surgery

Thyroid/Parathyroid Surgery is usually performed in the neck. It requires the skills of someone who has been trained in, and performs, many surgical procedures in the neck. At times the surgery may involve contiguous structures, malignant lymph glands, etc. which the surgeon should have training in removing. This is especially important if the thyroid gland or parathyroid gland is in an abnormal position. Thyroid/Parathyroid surgeons can be Otolaryngologist- Head and Neck Surgeons,

General Surgeons or Plastic Surgeons. They should have performed many thyroid or parathyroid surgeries during their training. Thyroid/Parathyroid surgery may be performed by other surgeons, but they may have limited training in the management of the neck and its contiguous structures. Furthermore, they may not limit their practice to neck surgery. A good rule of thumb is check if these surgeons are members of the American Head and Neck Society,
(a National society of surgeons who operate on the neck) or a similar society.

Arnold Komisar, MD, FACS

Dr. Komisar has been in practice in New York City since 1979, He has performed hundreds of thyroid and parathyroid procedures. Dr. Komisar is the former Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital. He is currently the Director of Head and Neck Endocrine Surgery and a Senior Attending Surgeon at the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Dr. Komisar is also a Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology at the NYU School of Medicine. He is actively involved in the teaching program of the NYU Department of Otolaryngology.

Dr. Komisar attended the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia from which he received the degree Doctor of Medicine. He was a resident in General Surgery at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. He was a resident and chief resident in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Dr. Komisar is certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology

Dr. Komisar is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Head and Neck Society and the American Academy of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery. He is a member of the American Thyroid Association and the New York Head and Neck Society.

Honors & Awards

The Mosher Award from the Triological Society

The Honor Award from the American Academy of

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

Who’s Who in America

Best Doctors in America (Castle and Conelly)

Best Doctors in NY Metro Area

Best Doctors New York Magazine

Past President NY Head and Neck Society

Past President NY Laryngological Society

Dr. Komisar has published extensively in the medical literature. He has presented on many topics related to Head and Neck Surgery at both national and international forums. Selected publications and presentations regarding thyroid and parathyroid disease include:

Publications and Presentations

Szubin, L, Kaker,A, Kakani,R, Komisar,A.,Blaugrund,S

“Hypocalcemia after Thyroidectomy - Risk Factors and Management.”

Ear, Nose and Throat Monthly,75 :612 - 617, September, 1996

George,E.,Komisar,A,Blaugrund,S,Ferucci,A,Scharf,S

“The Use of Sestamibi Scans in Hyperparathyroidism - A Case Study”

Laryngoscope 108:627 - 629, May , 1998

Yu,I., DeVita,M.,Komisar,A

“Long Term Follow-Up After Sub-Total Parathyroidectomy in Renal Failure”

Laryngoscope 109:January, 1999

Lin,HS,Komisar,A, Opher,E,Blaugrund,S

“Surgical Management of Thyroid Masses: Assessing the Need for Frozen Section

Laryngoscope 109; 868-873, June, 1999

Lin,HS,Komisar,A, Opher,E,Blaugrund,S

“Follicular Variant of Papillary Carcinoma: An Analysis of the Diagnostic Limitations of Pre-Operative Aspiration and Intraoperative Frozen Section Evaluation”

Laryngoscope 110: 1431 –1436, September 2000

Kacker,A, Scharf,S,Komisar,A

“Reduced time window Sestamibi scanning for nonlocalized primary hyperparathyroidism.

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 123: 456 – 459, October , 2000

Sullivan D, Komisar,A

“Radioguided Parathyroid Surgery” (Abstract)

Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of Head and Neck Cancer”

American Head and Neck Society

San Francisco, Ca, July, 2000

Sullivan D, Scharf,S, Komisar,A

“Minimally Invasive Radioguided Parathyroid Surgery”

Laryngoscope 111:912 – 917, May 2001

Kacker ,A, Komisar ,A,

“Unilateral versus Bilateral Exploration in Primary Hyperparathyroidism”

Ear Nose and Throat Journal 80(8): 530- 534, August , 2001

Komisar, A

“Parathyroid Imaging and Use of the Gamma-Probe”

Operative Techniques in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

13(3): 219 – 222, September, 2002

Liebeskind, A, Sikora, A, Komisar, A, Slavit,D, Fried, K

“Rates of Malignancy in Incidentally-Discovered Thyroid Nodules Evaluated with Sonography and Fine Needle Aspiration”, J Ultrasound Med 24:629-634, May, 2005

Komisar, A.

"Your Thyroid Gland"

Patient Education brochure

American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery

Washington, D.C., 1992

Komisar, A, Desloge, R,George, E

“Parathyroid Adenomas”

Interactive Case Study, Laryngoscope (Internet Edition), May 1998

Komisar, A

“Reoperative Surgery in Hyperparathyroidism”

in Revision Surgery in Otolaryngology, Edelstein,Kraus,eds.

Thieme, New York (in press)

Presentations:

Komisar, A, Gristman, A

"Pitfalls and Problems in Fine Needle Aspiration of Thyroid Masses"

Triological Society - Eastern Section

Philadelphia, Pa., February, 1991

Kacker, A, Kakani, R, Komisar, A, Szabo, A

“Management of Hypocalcemia in the Hungry Bone Syndrome”

Poster Presentation

Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology

Minneapollis, Mn., October, 1993

Kacker, A, Kakani, R, Komisar, A, Blaugrund, S

“Post-Thyroidectomy Hypocalcemia”

Eastern Section Meeting

Triological Society

Ottawa, Canada, January 1994

Kacker, A, Komisar, A, Blaugrund, S

“Unilateral versus Bilateral Exploration in Primary Hyperparathyroidism”

Eastern Section Meeting, Triological Society

Pittsburgh, Pa., January, 1995

George,E, Komisar, A, Blaugrund, S, Ferucci, A, Scharf, S

“The Use of Sestamibi Scans in Hyperparathyroidism - A Case Study”

The Triological Society, Eastern Section

Boston, Mass., January, 1997

Komisar, A

“Total Thyroidectomy versus Near-Total for Thyroid Cancer”

“Management of Carotid Body Tumors”

19th Annual Sisson Head and Neck Meeting

Vail, Colorado, February, 1997

Komisar, A

“Parathyroid Surgical Anatomy”

Controversies in Parathyroid Surgery

Annual Meeting

American College of Surgeons

Chicago, Ill., October, 1997

Komisar, A.

“Current Management of Thyroid Cancer”

Institute of Cancer

Rio De Janiero, Brazil, December, 1997

Lin, HS, Komisar, A, Oper, E, Blaugrund, S

Frozen Section versus Fine Needle Aspiration for Surgery of Thyroid Masses- A New Standard of Care

Presented at the Eastern Section Meeting of the Triological Society

Providence, Rhode Island, January, 1999

Kacker, A, Scharf,S,Komisar,A

“ Reduced time window Sestamibi scanning for nonlocalized primary hyperparathyroidism.

Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/ Head and Neck Surgery

New Orleans, La., September, 1999

Lin, HS, Komisar, A, Opher, E, Blaugrund, S

“Follicular Variant of Papillary Carcinoma: An Analysis of the Diagnostic Limitations of Pre-Operative Aspiration and Intraoperative Frozen Section Evaluation”

Presented at the annual meeting of the Triological Society (COSM)

Orlando, Florida, May, 2000

Komisar, A, Sullivan, Daniel

“Radioguided Parathyroid Surgery”

Presented at the 5th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer

Toronto, Canada, July, 2000

Komisar, A

“ Parathyroid Surgery”

Visiting Professor

Department of Otolaryngology

Columbia – Presbyterian Medical Center

New York, NY

Sullivan, D, Waltzman, M, Komisar, A

“Occult Thyroid Pathology in Parathyroid Surgery”

Presented at the Annual Meeting of the

American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery

Denver, Co., September, 2001

Komisar, A

“Minimally Invasive Radio-Guided Parathyroid Surgery”

Visiting Professor

New Jersey Medical College

Newark, NJ, November. 2001

Komisar, A

“Minimally Invasive RadioGuided Parathyroid Surgery”

Visiting Professor

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Montefiore Medical Center

Bronx, NY, June, 2002

Lessow, A, Panagopoulos,G, Opher, E, Komisar, A

“Predicting Malignancy and Redefining Surgical Indications for the Thyroid Nodule in Patients with Indeterminate FNA’s”

Presented at the Annual meeting of the New York Head and Neck Society

March, 2003, New York, NY

Song, PC, Opher, EP, Komisar, A

“Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Confounding the Diagnosis of Thyroid Cancer
Triological Society, Eastern Section

January, 2004, New York City, NY

Komisar, A

Visiting Professor

“Biennial Conference on Management of Thyroid Cancer”

University of Toronto

Toronto, Canada, June, 2004

Smith, SL, Kanowitz, SJ, Keiserman, SP, Komisar, A

“Thyroid Abcess Due to Escherichia Coli Urosepsis”

The annual meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

Los Angeles, Ca., September, 2005

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