Known primarily for his best-selling legal thrillers, John Grisham's latest novel explores the impact focused ultrasound had on a fictional patient with a malignant brain tumor.

Just like every other new medical technology, the adoption and development of focused ultrasound has been slow, but "The Tumor" may play a part in speeding things up.

“The development and adoption of any new medical technology, particularly a therapeutic technology is a process that can often take decades,” Neal Kassell, founder and chairman of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, told HCB News.

The first patient with prostate cancer was entered into a clinical trial for focused ultrasound in 1985, but the technology didn’t receive FDA approval for that indication until 2015. It takes such a long time because the technology has to first be developed, there needs to be a proof of concept and preclinical trials and then clinical trials need to be conducted.

“One of the basic tenets is that to navigate this technology through this complicated [process] requires that all of the stakeholders be informed as to the potential benefits of focused ultrasound,” said Kassell. “Increasing awareness of what this technology could do when it is fully developed is essential.”

Kassell feels that the book is a perfect vehicle for increasing awareness. He also mentioned that increasing awareness goes hand-in-hand with an increase in funding to support focused ultrasound research and other activities.

"The Tumor" is about a 35-year-old father named Paul who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Even though he received invasive brain surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, he passed away nine months after his diagnosis.

The book then takes the audiences to an alternate future in which Paul is diagnosed with the malignant brain tumor in 2025, but receives focused ultrasound treatment. The focused beams of ultrasound energy ablate Paul’s tumor and he is able to get back to his everyday life.

The tumor still eventually ends up taking Paul’s life, but the point is that the focused ultrasound treatment turned a fatal disease into a disease that is chronic, but manageable. The book is now available free of charge.

But these benefits don’t occur only in the fictional world; a Parkinson’s patient spoke at TEDxCharlottesville recently and shared how participating in a focused ultrasound clinical trial dramatically transformed her life.

In 2008, Grisham was elected to the board of directors of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. His role was to help the foundation obtain philanthropic support to accelerate the development of the technology and increase awareness of it.

The Focused Ultrasound Foundation is actively fostering collaborations with research sites and manufacturers through a variety of activities including meetings, symposia and workshops. They also are aiming to change the culture among stakeholders to make it more patient-centric with a sense of urgency.

Even though the focused ultrasound field is still in its early stages, it has still come a long way, according to Kassell. There are now 35 manufacturers in the field, which is an increase from about five a decade ago, and there are 58 clinical indications, which is an increase from three a decade ago.

There is not yet widespread reimbursement from government and private payors for focused ultrasound treatment. But despite that, Kassell still feels that the treatment is on the cusp of a breakthrough.

“As we know in biomedical research and medical device development, things occur non-linearly,” said Kassell. “We have the sense that we are right at the curve and that all of the work that has gone on for the past couple of decades is going to translate into commercial, successful treatments within the next couple of years.”