Many are now convinced that this offers tremendous promise — even beyond cancer treatment. In a recent video, University of Rome's Dr. Allessandro Napoli called it "the future of surgery." Former FDA commissioner and former Director of the National Cancer Institute Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, noted that "this is a new tool, a tool we never had at our disposal before." And Stanford University's Dr. Pejman Ghanouni described the enormous potential range of FUS applications in the future. "If you can imagine it, someone is trying to use focused ultrasound to treat it."

So exciting is this new tool that it has sparked the imagination of those beyond just the research and health care worlds. In his 2015 novel, "The Tumor," famed fiction writer John Grisham created a fictional patient with a fatal malignant tumor. Despite surgery, radiation and chemotherapy patient "Paul" dies.

Author Grisham then creates an alternative future, in which Paul's tumor is discovered in 2025, after FUS is available to treat it. The tumor is successfully managed with FUS, and turned into a chronic condition that eventually kills him, but not before he has a chance to live a fuller life.

"When I learned about focused ultrasound and its potential to change lives," Grisham stated on the Focused Ultrasound Foundation website, "I knew it was a story worth telling. This is the most important book I have ever written. I have found no other cause that can potentially save so many lives."

Back to HCB News

Medical Devices Homepage