Grisham e-book focuses on ultrasound treatment

Bestselling author John Grisham has written “The Tumor,” a Kindle e-book showing how an emerging medical technology could be used to treat various disorders.

Grisham, who lives in Albemarle County, is a board member of the Charlottesville-based Focused Ultrasound Foundation. The foundation promotes the adoption of focused ultrasound, a noninvasive therapy being developed to treat more than 50 medical conditions.

The book follows a fictional 35-year-old patient named Paul, who is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He dies nine months after his diagnosis despite undergoing brain surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. 

Grisham then offers an alternative narrative to the story. Paul again is 35, but he is diagnosed with the same brain tumor in 2025, nearly a decade later.

Doctors use focused beams of ultrasound energy to destroy the tumor without cutting into his skull. They also use ultrasound on the surrounding brain to activate nanoparticles that deliver high concentrations of chemotherapy while minimizing side effects. When the tumor returns a couple of times, Paul is retreated with the same approach.

In a news release, Grisham said he wrote the book to raise awareness about focused ultrasound and the efforts of the foundation. The e-book is available for free on Amazon.