Importance of finding high volume surgeon

shoenberg3

Unfortunately, my mother was recently diagnosed with papillary carcinoma of thyroid. She had a nodule 4 years ago (TIRADS 4) which grew vertically this year (TIRADS 5) to size of 1.2 cm. Recent biopsy revealed papillary carcinoma. The endocrinologist noted that a hemithyroidectomy might be possible due to favorable location (more lateral). We have Kaiser insurance which does limit our choices in terms of surgeons.

My question is how critical is it to find a high-volume surgeon in a top hospital for such a case which is hopefully relatively simple (ie. does not develop into total thyroidectomy with extensive resection of lymph nodes/nearby structures)?

If it turns out that there is more than a minuscule risk of incomplete resection of mass/lymph nodes, serious post-op complications etc., we may choose to pay out of pocket for treatment in places such as Stanford or Clayman Thyroid Center.

One more question regards what would be your recommendation in terms of timeline for getting the surgery (I would assume that it is very slow growing since it has been present since 4+ years ago).

Thank you in advance for your insights.