"A patient comes in and lays on this table. We have these green lasers on the wall and ceiling to line up the patient," explains medical physicist Marty Johnson.

He's describing the Elekta Synergy Radiation System. It's new technology to Sparrow Hospital that works by accurately targeting cancerous cells.

"Unless you target the cancer, you're going to treat too much normal tissue," says radiation oncologist Dr. James Herman. "If you treat too much normal tissue, that increases the side effects and the complications."

For example, says Dr. Herman, a person being treated for breast cancer, without targeted therapy, can experience damage to surrounding organs. But this machine would spare those tissues.

"[There would be] no consequences to the lungs with some scarring, no problems with the ribs, which would be painful or fractured, no troubles with the heart which would be heart failure or heart attacks," he says.

Adds Johnson, "What's exciting about this machine is that we can watch before, during, and after the treatment to verify that we've treated where we want to treat."

Since acquiring the Elekta Synergy Radiation System a month ago, about 200 patients have undergone treatment using the machine.

"The nice part about it is it can treat any cancer, so no matter where the cancer is, these machines can target it," Dr. Herman says.

The system is worth two million dollars.