UCI Med Center, Hoag Unite for Tumor Center

In a rare teaming of local health-care rivals, UCI Medical Center and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian plan to operate Orange County’s first center using noninvasive radiosurgery to treat benign brain tumors.

The center, expected to open at Hoag in Newport Beach next summer, will become home to a $3.2-million “gamma knife” that both hospitals wanted to acquire but neither could afford alone. UCI Medical Center, which originally intended to buy the device outright, ran short of funds after making a $600,000 down payment. Hoag stepped in with a $600,000 investment both to build a facility and install the machine. A finance company, which will own the machine, is investing the rest of the money.

Though both institutions are discussing mergers with other health-care organizations that could make UCI and Hoag even fiercer competitors, Steven Moreau, Hoag’s senior vice president, says both sides believe that Orange County residents deserve to have such a facility.

The machine, which includes a patient table and helmet, zaps tumors with concentrated beams from radioactive cobalt. The noninvasive procedure, expected to be much cheaper than traditional brain surgery, also entails less risk to the patient and doesn’t require a hospital stay, Moreau says.

The center expects to handle up to 100 procedures a year for county residents. Currently, those requiring tumor removal either must undergo traditional operations, or travel to surrounding counties for gamma-knife treatment.

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Barbara Marsh covers health care for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7762 and at barbara.marsh@latimes.com