Xavier M. Keutgen, MD, FACS

Xavier M. Keutgen, MD, is an endocrine and neuroendocrine surgeon with particular expertise in treating thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal and neuroendocrine tumors. Dr. Keutgen is the director of the University of Chicago Medicine Neuroendocrine Tumor Center and works closely with a multidisciplinary team that specializes in NETs. He is the co-director of the Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) Clinical Care Center and a member of the multidisciplinary thyroid cancer team at the University of Chicago.

When surgery is indicated, Dr. Keutgen uses minimally invasive approaches whenever possible. He performs small- or no-scar thyroid and parathyroid surgery, thyroid nodule radiofrequency ablations as well as laparoscopic pancreas, liver and adrenal surgery. Dr. Keutgen also specializes in complex liver resections for metastatic neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and pancreas. He is one of the few surgeons in the country with advanced expertise in extensive removal of neuroendocrine liver tumors metastases (“debulking surgery”) using techniques that preserve a maximal amount of normal liver tissue (parenchymal sparing liver surgery).

Dr. Keutgen has a broad interest in basic science, translational and clinical research of endocrine neoplasms, with a particular focus on neuroendocrine tumors. His laboratory research focuses on understanding DNA pathway repair choice and increasing radiosensitivity of neuroendocrine tumors, identifying molecular mechanisms that are responsible for endocrine tumor formation and discovery of novel methods to inhibit tumor growth. In addition, Dr. Keutgen is also part of a research team that investigates the use of artificial intelligence to diagnose thyroid cancer with ultrasound images.

Dr. Keutgen is the lead investigator on several clinical trials that focus on new diagnostic and therapeutic methods for endocrine and neuroendocrine tumors. His clinical and laboratory research have been published in Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer, Gastroenterology, Annals of Surgery, Surgery, JACS, Modern Pathology, JCEM and Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, amongst others, and has been funded by the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Foundation, the Cancer Research Foundation and several NIH subawards.