Christopher Duma’s goal is to modernize the treatment of neurological diseases.
Duma, a neurosurgeon, is the medical director of the brain tumor and GammaKnife programs at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach.
He has developed a novel treatment using GammaKnife technology to “head off tumors at the pass,” he said. He patented the treatment, which he calls Leading Edge.
“I treat the most brain tumors south of Los Angeles,” Duma said.
His scalpel’s reach extends south to the Mexican border and east to Tucson.
GammaKnife technology allows surgeons to use pin-pointed radiation to target brain tumors and treat other neurological diseases like Parkinson’s. The method is noninvasive, meaning the surgeons don’t need to use a real knife.
The Leading Edge treatment, using GammaKnife technology, is almost like setting backfires to stave off a spreading wildfire. It allows Duma and his team to develop highly specific treatments that stop tumors from continuing along migratory pathways of white matter, tissue through which the gray matter of the brain communicates with itself. Tumors can travel and grow through the white matter.
A tumor can be treated in as little as 10 minutes; the most complicated procedures take an hour.
“Then they can go home and go dancing that night,” Duma said.
The treatment has helped patients with malignant gliomas live beyond the median survival rate of 17 months. As many as one in five patients survive for three years, which Duma called an “astonishing number.” Sen. Ted Kennedy, who was stricken with this type of brain tumor, lived 14 months.
Innovative approaches
One of Duma’s patients, Veronica, was described by her best friend Richard Parrot as a poster child for Duma’s dedication to modern, aggressive treatment techniques. Parrot declined to give Veronica’s last name.
“She’s been getting her care here since 2004,” Parrot said. “She’s been my best friend for 25 years.”
Veronica, a former deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. It metastasized to her lungs, and later to her brain and spine.
Veronica has received countless procedures at Hoag. She was at the hospital Monday for her 11th GammaKnife procedure, Parrot said.
“The journey is fraught with ups and downs,” he said.
