Upstate's Gamma Knife is one of only a little more than 100 in clinical use across the country, and one of about half a dozen in New York State. Bogart said the closest units are in Buffalo, a two hour drive from Syracuse, or New York City, a four hour drive away.

Both Bogart and McCabe indicated that the cuts wouldn't affect service at the 409-bed academic medical center. "We're fully committed to the unit technology and our patients, so it's not going to impact the care that we give or the support we give to the center," Bogart said.

"We'll be looking for ways to be more efficient in other areas," added McCabe. "I think at this point, it's one of many little nicks that hospitals are taking."

Not everyone might be so lucky. Bo Cook, who manages a Gamma Knife center in Spokane, Wash., told local news outfit KREM that his center might have to shut its doors in four months if the cuts aren't repealed.

"Patients will have sub-par treatment because someone sneaked this on the backside of this bill," he told KREM.

Elekta, the Stockholm-based manufacturer of the Gamma Knife, also might feel a bit of a pinch. Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that an analyst with Handelsbanken Capital Markets cut sales forecasts for the company by 3.5 percent and knocked down pre-tax earnings estimates by 7 percent for 2014.

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