The Tumor Quotes

“Paul is rolled into the operating room and put to sleep with general anesthesia.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“Needless to say, the weekend is long and agonizing. Karen gives the bad news to the family but not to their children. She refuses to believe the tumor is malignant and is convinced the surgery will go well.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“Focused ultrasound utilizes intersecting beams of high-frequency sound concentrated accurately and precisely on tissue deep in the body, much as sunlight passing through a magnifying glass can be focused to burn a hole in a leaf.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“Focused ultrasound is a new, revolutionary, groundbreaking, non-invasive therapeutic technology that has the potential to transform the treatment of a variety of serious medical disorders in addition to brain tumors, improve outcomes, and decrease the cost of care. It could become an alternative to, or complement for, traditional surgery, radiation therapy, and drug delivery.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“This is not science fiction. Around the world, 50,000 men with prostate cancer have been treated with focused ultrasound. Over 36,000 women with uterine fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus) have been treated, thus avoiding hysterectomies and infertility. Clinical trials for tumors of the brain, breast, pancreas, and liver, as well as Parkinson’s disease and arthritis, are inching forward at over 270 research sites around the world.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“But Paul has a problem. He has a tumor in the right frontal lobe of his brain, about the size of a hen’s egg.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“Looking back, the first symptom was a gradual decrease in his ability to concentrate at work. Naturally curious and active, he noticed an uncharacteristic tendency to procrastinate.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“Focused ultrasound is a new, revolutionary, groundbreaking, non-invasive therapeutic technology that has the potential to transform the treatment of a variety of serious medical disorders in addition to brain tumors, improve”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“It takes about an hour to kill all of the tumor that can be seen on the MR. At the completion of the procedure, another MR scan is performed to confirm”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“uterine fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus) have been treated, thus avoiding hysterectomies and infertility. Clinical trials for tumors of the brain, breast, pancreas and liver, as well as Parkinson’s disease, arthritis,”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“of a man with prostate cancer undergoing focused ultrasound therapy,”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“Paul’s story to have a happier ending—for ourselves”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“His head is securely fixed in a hemispheric focused ultrasound brain transducer (fig. 2). The transducer is capable of transmitting more than 1,000 intersecting beams of ultrasound energy through the scalp and skull to the tumor with a high degree of accuracy and without damaging the”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“Burr holes are made in the skull, and a power saw is used to fashion a bone flap more or less like the top of a cookie jar (fig. 2). The dura mater—a membrane”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“The tumor will eventually take Paul’s life. However, focused ultrasound therapy could transform a fatal condition into one that is chronic, but manageable. In contrast to the best current treatment circa 2015, the futuristic ultrasound therapy depicted here circa 2025 could potentially be accomplished on an outpatient basis without multiple days of hospitalization; without surgery and its attendant risks of infection and complications like blood clots and brain damage; without the harmful effects of radiation; and with minimal side effects of chemotherapy due to focused drug delivery. The net result could be a dramatic improvement in the quality and longevity of countless lives, and decreased cost of treatment.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“powerful chemotherapy agents enclosed in microscopic nanoparticles are injected intravenously. These circulate with the blood in every tissue and organ in the body, but the chemotherapy drugs are inactive because they are trapped inside the nanoparticles. After eliminating all of the tumor that can be seen on the MR, the surgeon then refocuses the ultrasound to the surrounding brain to activate the nanoparticles, which release their pharmacological payload in the precise area around the tumor where residual microscopic extensions of the tumor have infiltrated. This allows very high concentrations of the drugs to be delivered focally to the brain while minimizing systemic side effects. The remainder of the chemo-laden nanoparticles will be excreted.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“facility to address the weakness in his left side. He cannot raise his left hand to his face, nor can he walk without a cane. Ten days after surgery, he is discharged and taken home. He is instructed to return to the rehab facility three times”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“This is not science fiction. Around the world, 50,000 men with prostate cancer have been treated with focused ultrasound. Over 22,000 women with uterine fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus) have been treated, thus avoiding hysterectomies and infertility. Clinical trials for tumors of the brain, breast, pancreas and liver, as well as Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, and hypertension are inching forward at over 225 research sites around the world.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“Six years after her Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, Kimberly suffered from involuntary shaking and could no longer ride her bike or enjoy other forms of exercise. She was successfully treated in a focused ultrasound clinical trial at the University of Maryland. She is now back on her bike and says the clock has been turned back on her life.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor

“Focused ultrasound therapy is still in its early stages, still experimental, but there is enough research to date to be very optimistic.”
― John Grisham, The Tumor