Advancements in linear accelerator technology and software-controlled radiation treatment have had a tremendous positive impact on patient outcomes and on the practice of radiation oncology. However, these advancements have also made the commissioning process for linear accelerators more complex. In…
One common debate among medical equipment professionals is the useful life of a linear accelerator. Nowadays, manufacturers of radiation therapy equipment like to claim that the useful life of equipment is only 7-8 years. They argue that a 7-year-old device…
Anyone trying to buy or sell a car knows that they’re entering a market unlike any other. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the average age of vehicles on U.S. roadways has hit an all-time record…
Industry experts know the truth: In the United States today, hospitals and clinics generally prefer the Varian TrueBeam® linear accelerator. It’s versatile, reliable, and capable of integrating seamlessly with Varian’s Eclipse™ and Aria® software systems. New and experienced staff alike…
Every linac vault has a base frame. How do you remove a linear accelerator base frame? A History of Base Frames In the 90’s and early 2000’s, most Varian linear accelerators installed globally included a base frame that consisted of…
Pleasant Patient Experience Over the past several years, patient experience has become an increasingly important measure of performance for clinics and hospitals. Whether a patient feels comfortable and relaxed during a visit can impact a hospital’s ranking and even its…
Varian low/single photon energy linear accelerators manufactured in the 1970’s through the early 1990’s often contain depleted uranium shielding (also referred to as counterweights). Depleted uranium is a radioactive material that must be handled appropriately during the removal and disposal…
There is a buzz in the radiotherapy world about a new linear accelerator in the works from Siemens Healthineer’s Varian Division. The TrueBeam will be 12 years old next year, and a new, dual-energy model from the world’s top linac…
Durante aproximadamente la última década, EE.UU. se ha convertido en un ‘mercado de reemplazo’ para los aceleradores lineales (LINAC), lo que significa que las máquinas de radioterapia antiguas están siendo reemplazadas por máquinas nuevas en una base de 1:1. Si…
Los aceleradores lineales tienen dos componentes diferentes que permiten tomar imágenes del paciente mientras el paciente está en el acelerador: Dispositivos de imágenes MV. Estos dispositivos, también denominados EPID (Electronic Portal Imaging Devices), producen una imagen del paciente mediante el…