About the Centre
Diagnosis and Treatment of Complex Endocrine Disorders
The Northern Alberta Endocrine Surgery Centre at the University of Alberta Hospital specializes in the treatment of endocrine disorders with particular attention to minimally invasive parathyroid surgery, complex thyroid cancer cases, and inherited or familial endocrine diseases such as multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN). Through the Centre, patients are able to access assessment, referrals for necessary tests, pre-operative teaching, surgical treatment and post-operative care. If it appears that a patient could benefit from other services such as physiotherapy, nutritional teaching or social work, these may also be accessible through our centre. Patients referred to the Centre who are ill but not appropriate for surgical treatment will receive nonsurgical treatment by one of our physicians or will be re-referred.
The Endocrine Surgery Centre uses research-based, state of the art methods to diagnosis endocrine conditions, including:
- Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB)
- Thyroid ultrasound assessment
- Sestamibi and/or CT scans
- Blood and urine analysis

Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNAB)

FNAB and Thyroid U/S Combined

CT Scanner
To be seen at the Northern Alberta Endocrine Surgery Centre, patients must be referred by a physician. For more specific information about what happens at an appointment, please see Information for Patients.
Referring physicians: Please fax the completed form along with relevant investigative reports to the Endocrine Surgery Booking office at 780-407-2729. Thank you.
Endocrine Surgery Referral Form
More about our surgeons can be found here:
Dr. Todd McMullen Dr. David Williams
Diseases Treated at the Northern Alberta Endocrine Surgery Centre
Thyroid
- Thyroid Cancer, including:
- Papillary thyroid cancer
- Follicular/Hurthle thyroid cancer
- Medullary thyroid cancer
- Poorly (insular and anaplastic) differentiated thyroid cancer
- Thyroid Nodules
- Thyroid disease in radiation-exposed individuals (including childhood cancer survivors)
- Multinodal goiter
- Hyperthyroidism, including:
- Graves’ disease
- Toxic multinodal goiter
- Toxic solitary nodule
Parathyroid
- Primary hyperparathyroidism
- Renal (secondary and tertiary) hyperparathyroidism
- Persistent and recurrent hyperparathyroidism
Adrenal
- Pheochromocytoma
- Cushing’s syndrome
- Primary hyperaldosteronism (Conn’s syndrome or aldosteronoma)
- Incidentally discovered adrenal masses (adrenal ‘incidentalomas’)
- Adrenocortical carcinoma
- Isolated adrenal metastases
Pancreas
Genetic Syndromes
- Multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN-1, MEN-2A, MEN-2B)
- Familial pheochromocytoma/panganglioma syndromes