Gamma Knife

A CBS 2 News Special Assignment

CBS 2 News' Thelma Gutierrez introduces us to this revolutionary tool you have to see to believe.

Special Assignment: Gamma Knife aired Wednesday, January 13, 1999 at 11 p.m.

It's the stuff of which science fiction is made.

Imagine the ability to destroy a brain tumor without a scalpel, or even a surgeon.

It's done with something called a Gamma Knife, said CBS 2 News' Thelma Gutierrez. In reality, it's a knife at all, but rather 201 beams of radiation delivered through the openings of what looks like a big helmet.

"Imagine Dr. McCoy (from Star Trek) holding a transmitter over a patient's body and curing them with just transparent beams. It's not too different from that," Neurosurgeon Dr. Chris Duma told Gutierrez.

Douglas Jarvis, 79, has a brain tumor. He has been treated with traditional radiation.

"That wiped me out completely," Jarvis told Gutierrez. "I was sick all the time."

Gaye Balasz also has a brain tumor. She was treated with surgery without success.

"I've got a big dent here and two holes in my head," Balasz told Gutierrez.

At the time, neither Balasz nor Jarvis had ever heard of the Gamma Knife, also called stereotactic radio surgery. So Jarvis was resigned to his fate.

"What the heck. I'm 79. I've had a wonderful life and kids -- no regrets. If I go, I go," said Jarvis.

Jarvis and Balasz, however, found Duma at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, and they had hope once again.

For someone who lifts weights and golfs three times a week, Jarvis was anxious for a second chance.

Before Jarvis was treated with the Gamma Knife, doctors had to study images of his brain. A computer located the tumor.

"It's like the stealth bomber targeting the target," said Duma. "What the computer has given us is 3-D coordinates of the center of the tumor."

The Gamma Knife works on the same principle as a magnifying glass held up to the sun, said Gutierrez. It focuses the rays to a single point.

The computer calculates how much radiation it will take to destroy the tumor.

"All this morning's work boils down to 11 minutes. So we'll treat him for 11 minutes then he's done," Duma said.

Jarvis' children kissed and said goodbye to their father, but awaited his return again in less than a half-hour.

Jarvis was treated in one room while Duma monitored him from another. Jarvis felt no pain, said Gutierrez. The machine is silent and the beams of radiation are invisible.

"The machine will automatically eject him in 11 minutes, send him out for some lunch," Duma said.

The Gamma Knife only works on small tumors. The strong dose of radiation precisely fired at the tumor can destroy it in only one treatment.

For Balasz that's all it took to destroy her tumor.

"I go in and out and the next day it's over," said Balasz. "I didn't have to lose another year of my life like I did after surgery."

For Douglas, after resting a couple of hours after his 11-minute procedure, he's ready to go home.

One week later, CBS 2 News found Jarvis back on the golf course and his doctor says the tumor cells in Jarvis' head are gone.

Jarvis can now look forward to his 80th birthday.

Within a few years, Duma says the Gamma Knife will be used to treat breast, liver and colon cancer, including tumors in other parts of the body that can't be removed without surgery, said Gutierrez.

More information:

• Check out the Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian Web site.
• Learn more about the Hoag/UCI Gamma Knife.
• Who is a good candidate for Gamma Knife treatment?
• Read more about Dr.Christopher M. Duma.