Medical School: Duke University School of Medicine
Residency: Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Fellowship: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Dr. Frantz is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy,
where he distinguished himself as a varsity football letterman and Brigade
Commander. He received his medical
degree from the Duke University School of Medicine. He completed general surgery residency at the
Medical College of Virginia (now VCU School of Medicine) and pediatric general surgery fellowship
at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
After completing fellowship, Dr. Frantz served as the
Division Head of Pediatric Surgery at the Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VA,
until his retirement from the Navy in 2009. While there, he developed the largest
minimally invasive Pectus repair practice in the military, treating both
dependent and active-duty military patients from around the world with the Nuss Procedure.
Like his partners on the CHKD Pediatric Surgery team, Dr.
Frantz has established himself as an expert in primary and re-do minimally
invasive pectus repair. He was featured
on an episode on The Doctors in January of 2015 to discuss treatment of a young
woman with severe pectus excavatum. A little over 18 months later, the young woman's progress was reviewed in another episode of The Doctors.
In addition to minimally invasive pectus excavatum repair,
Dr. Frantz utilizes open repair for patients with complex chest wall
deformities (concurrent pectus excavatum and carinatum) and those with pectus
carinatum deformities who have failed bracing therapy or who have stiff chest
walls. He has innovated the techniques
of open repair by utilizing titanium plating for stabilization and alignment of
bony rib-to-sternal gaps during costal cartilage re-growth, which has been
particularly effective in patients with asymmetric pectus carinatum.
Dr. Frantz appreciates the challenges of treating unique
disorders of the chest wall and the potential for developing new treatment
techniques. He collaborated with Biomet
in developing a custom titanium implant for a patient with “floating” sternum
and flail chest which had resulted from previous failed attempts at pectus
excavatum repair. The very first of its
kind, this implant was inserted in March 2015 and has resulted in significant
improvement in the patient’s pulmonary mechanics and quality of life.
An author or numerous scientific manuscripts and book
chapters, he has received special recognition for teaching and clinical
accomplishments at the local and national levels. His current research projects include
optimization of post-operative pain management after pectus repair with
incorporation of regional anesthetic techniques.
Dr. Frantz was named Medical Director and Chief of Pediatric
Surgery for the Children’s Surgical Specialty Group at CHKD in January
2015. He is an Assistant Professor of
Clinical Surgery and Pediatrics at the Eastern Virginia Medical School. He is married to his wife, Stephanie, and has
5 children, ages 10 to 27.
