Oscoda woman undergoes new CyberKnife treatment for tumor

another article involving a patient who had cyberknife recently:

>>She was the 29th patient to undergo the treatment at St. Mary’s. Only one other hospital in the state offers the technology. Located further south in Ann Arbor is St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, the first to offer the radiosurgery in Michigan.

“Both my husband and daughter view that the diagnosis came at a time when it was a blessing. Three years ago, when my symptoms were discovered, the CyberKnife had not yet been invented,” said Anderson.

Although benign, the tumor was wrapped around the carotid artery and four facial nerves, three that control eye movement. Gonzalez referred Anderson to neurosurgeon E. Malcolm Fields, M.D., at St. Mary’s Seton Cancer Institute.

Concerns about the location of the tumor surfaced. Although not life altering, according to physicians, the tumor was inoperable because it was located in the optic chasm.

Fields said that Anderson was a candidate for CyberKnife and that he would take her medical chart to the CyberKnife team for review the very next day. The team agreed to take on Anderson’s case. Interestingly, Anderson was told, when the physicians reviewed the older MRI completed in January 2005, the tumor was indeed present, but missed.