Honolulu Gamma Knife Center Attracts Med Travelers

Gamma Knife Center of the Pacific in Honolulu has treated more than 1,300 patients from throughout the U.S. and Pacific since opening in 1998. The facility offers residents a convenient treatment option and tourists a way to combine needed therapy with the pleasures of a paradise.

The center announced that it will begin operating Elekta’s latest generation radiosurgery system, Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion, described as “a gentler alternative to traditional brain surgery for illnesses such as metastatic disease, which is cancer that has traveled to the brain from elsewhere in the body. With pinpoint accuracy, the system delivers up to thousands of low-intensity radiation beams to one or more targets in a single session.”

“Perfexion is a much faster, more efficient machine to treat multiple metastases in a single visit,” said Maurice Nicholson, M.D., neurosurgeon and the center’s medical director. “This is important because the pendulum is swinging toward treating with stereotactic radiosurgery [SRS] rather than whole brain radiation therapy [WBRT]. Studies have shown that there is decreased mental function at four months in a higher percentage of WBRT patients. Perfexion will be good for the patients and good for physicians.”

More than one-third of the 140 patients who come to Gamma Knife Center of the Pacific each year have brain metastases. “The numbers are rising due to advances in tumor imaging and better screening — which result in earlier detection and diagnosis,” said Dr. Nicholson.

“With new treatments, people who are diagnosed with cancer live longer; therefore, there is a greater chance of developing metastases.”

According to the center’s announcement of the new system, Gamma Knife Center of the Pacific has been a center for medical travelers for years, treating patients from Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Guam, Taipei and Canada.

Gamma Knife surgery lends itself to medical tourism, according to the center, because it is usually a single-day procedure with no specific convalescence.

“Our location in Honolulu, just 10 minutes from Waikiki, presents a great opportunity for people seeking Gamma Knife treatment in close proximity to one of the world’s most famous vacation destinations,” said Sean Nicholson, the center’s CFO.

“The Gamma Knife Center of the Pacific always strives to provide access for patients outside of Hawaii. Our staff works closely with patients to schedule and coordinate appointments, assist with travel arrangements and lodging, provide cost estimates and work with insurance companies to secure payment.”