BURIEN, Wash. — A year ago, Bob Searing had five tumors in his brain.
"[Doctors] were worried it could be as little as five months," Searing said.
Searing went to the oncology team at Kaiser Permanente in Seattle for treatment after his stage 4 cancer diagnoses. The radiation treatment had a profound effect.
"We actually can't even see [the tumor] at all," Radiation Oncologist Dr. Alvin Cabrera said.
The treatment is called single isocenter multi-target radiosurgery and has been used to treat patients for about five years. The treatment requires a team of physicists to figure out, down to the submillimeter, where the tumors are so the radiation goes to the exact location.
"It allows us to precisely target while sparing surrounding normal brain in less than half an hour," Dr. Cabrera said.
"It's almost like something out of Star Trek," Searing said.
Doctors used to only be able to treat a tumor one at a time, but due to new technology, they can treat multiple tumors all at once. The treatment is not available at every hospital because of the high level of skill involved.
"With these advances in technology, we can often treat these tumors effectively while at the same time preserving quality of life," Dr. Cabrera said.