Recent Advances in Radiation Oncology

Linear Accelerator - It is a device which is most commonly used to deliver external beam radiation treatments for cancer patients. It generates and transfers high energy X-rays or electrons to treat cancer affected area of the patient.

Tomotherapy - It is a device that delivers a narrow intensity-modulated beam from a rotating gantry while patient is simultaneously moved through the bore slice by slice.

Proton therapy - It is the latest technique in the Radiation Oncologist’s armamentarium. It is a type of radiation therapy which uses proton instead of x rays. It is considered to be safer than traditional techniques of radiation therapy because it can provide a high dose of radiation to a very specific area by using the concept of Bragg peak (no exit beams). This treatment uses high energy proton beams to kill even necrotic cancer cells.

Gamma knife - It’s a form of stereotactic radiosurgery equipment which uses up to 192 precisely focussed beams of radiation from a cobalt radioactive source to treat cancerous and non-cancerous masses n the brain.

CyberKnife - It is a robotic radiosurgery system which treats both cancerous and non-cancerous tumours anywhere in the body. It is the world's first and the only robotic radiosurgery system to treat tumours throughout the body non-surgically. It can detect and treat moving tumours with high accuracy which is not possible by other radiosurgery systems.