Replacing or Upgrading a LINAC? Here’s What You Need to Know.

Radiotherapy is a critical treatment process used in hospitals and clinics for patients with cancer. Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure that you are using the right equipment to gain the highest quality of care. Linear accelerator (LINAC) systems are one of the most expensive assets in terms of medical equipment today. Choosing to replace or upgrade LINAC equipment is a significant matter as it impacts the facility's operations, doctor's decisions, and the patient's health. There are four main categories that equipment can fall into that are based on a hospital or clinic's needs and capabilities.

Newer Equipment with Full Upgrades

Being able to provide the best level of care for patients should be the highest goal for any medical facility. Thus, having new equipment with upgraded features offers the best of the best in terms of care. If a clinic needs to move, it would still be cost-effective to pay the relocation charges, which can be over $100k in expenses, instead of purchasing a new replacement LINAC system.

Newer Equipment with Fewer Upgrades

Choosing a LINAC system with fewer upgrades can save money and might be more appropriate for smaller clinics that see fewer patients. However, specific technologies, like portal imaging, may be beneficial for those who want higher-quality devices. There is a good chance that a facility will be continuing to use this equipment for a while before it depreciates. The best advice is to determine which upgrades would be most appropriate for your office.

Older Equipment with Full Upgrades

If your LINAC system is older than 20 years, it's likely your machine has paid for itself even after additional upgrades. Older equipment can still be reliable, but as technology progresses, they soon will end up costing you more money and become less efficient. Also, if a company needs to relocate, the relocation costs may end up costing you more than a new machine.

Older Equipment with Fewer Upgrades

This remaining category should generally be looked upon as the last consideration. In most cases, equipment will no longer perform the necessary tasks required for treatments. Replacement parts will continue to become sparse and more costly as new machines come into the marketplace, rendering older versions obsolete.

Radparts is the world’s largest independent distributor of OEM replacement parts for Linear Accelerators and Radiation Oncology equipment.  Radparts provides high quality, user friendly, low cost parts and support for linear accelerators and radiation equipment. More information can be found at https://www.radparts.com/.

Monitoring of Patient Movement During Radiotherapy May Get Easier

Research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found using new mmWave technology to be a great asset to perform precise monitoring of patient motion in real-time during radiotherapy treatments. The mmWave technology can monitor displacements with .1mm to 1 mm accuracy at low cost using a simple and easy to use device. Imaging with millimeter waves can overcome obstacles of current techniques like the optical tracking of a patient’s skin surface or CT scanning. This new device can also monitor breathing and cardiac motion that may, in time, replace respirometers or other breathing monitoring devices. To read more about the research and the outcome of mmWave technology, you can read this article for more information.