Category: Radparts

Medical linear accelerators have continued to make progress through history since the late 1950’s and pave new ways for curing a variety of different cancers that once were not an option to treat. The design of the equipment combines the use of hardware and software that together gives the advantage of precision and overall success of today’s cancer treatment worldwide. Manufacturing and design continue to evolve and become a better tool for future use in reliability and efficiency but as with all mechanical systems, dysfunction and failures still exist. Having unplanned accelerator downtime and failures can impact a company and its patients very negatively. The scheduled treatments need to be performed at precise times given by the cancer specialists for an effective procedure while fighting against cancer. To avoid these situations from occurring, proper testing and maintenance of the radiology equipment must be done.

Steps During Maintenance

1. Deliver a daily quality assurance (QA) treatment
2. Automatically move and examine the log files that are created
3. Create baselines, then perform daily operating and performance values to statistical process control (SPC) for examination
4. Investigate if any alarms have been activated
5. Inform the facility and system service engineers

Trained Professionals

Medical physicists will typically receive basic training of the principals of linear accelerators functionality, but much hands-on experience will be lacking since there is a limited access to linacs that’s are in clinical use but more importantly because these devices can only be adjusted with small set of parameters to maintain. For actual technicians, training for service personnel is generally one of the largest components to a person early on in employment. The process can be lengthy and costly and require unique training from the manufacturer of linear accelerator company.

Scheduled Maintenance and Repairs

Typically, Linac machines will be under an annual service contract that will provide scheduled, preventative maintenance throughout the year to keep the radiotherapy machines running optimally. Keep in mind, older equipment may reach their “end of life” period and may no longer be supported or even worse parts can become sparse or unavailable which may be a reason to start to look for replacement linear accelerators. Extending the life of your current systems with upgrades will be the most cost-effective option for your business. By repairing or upgrading the system this will also not only save money but save precious down time that will need to be taken if having to remove and install new equipment is needed. Not having a machine functioning will mean no treatments being performed which could cost you losing valuable patients.

 

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/.

The leading cause of death globally remains to be cancer. The word cancer is often used when a person describes how a loved family or friend dies. The first cancer treatments appreciated were introduced in 1895 after the discovery of Xrays. Cancer treatment has continued to progress at an increasing rate each year with new technology and growth in knowledge on the subject. There are many treatment options to be considered such as radiation therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and hormonal therapy. Radiation therapy continues to be one of the most important components of treatments available since it’s estimated 50% of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy during their sickness. The reason for such a high amount of uses for this type of treatment is the efficiency to target the cancer cells with beams of radiation produced by radiation equipment called a linear accelerator or LINAC. The high energy x ray beams destroy the cancer cells while preventing radiation damage from the healthy cells. Radiation therapy can be delivered in two different ways, the first is through External beam radiation. This type is the most common and is used from the outside of a patient’s body by aiming the radiation beams at the location of tumor. The second type of delivery is Internal radiation or also called brachytherapy. Internal radiation is done through the inside of the body by radioactive sources such as catheters or seeds directly into the tumor.

Fractionation

Radiation dose fractionation is radiotherapy delivered in a fractionated form. This type of therapy generally increases the survival of normal tissues and cells over the cancer cells. Normal cells multiply more slowly compared to the rapid increasing cancer cells which allows the healthy cells more time to heal before they replicate.

3D Conformal Radiotherapy

New technology has allowed older 2D radiation therapy that previously used rectangular fields based on plain X-ray imaging to be replaced with 3D radiation therapy based on CT imaging. This replacement allows for a more accurate target of the tumor as well as precise location of other normal organ structures for the most efficient beam placement and shielding to occur.

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)

Oncologists can create irregular-shaped radiation doses that take shape of the tumor while also having the ability to avoid other organs with IMRT technology. This process is all possible due to two factors which are inverse planning software and also computer controlled intensity modulation of multiple radiation beams during the process.

Image-guided Radiotherapy

The possibility to miss a tumor due to organ movement or the variations needed for each patient’s setup it becomes even more important for treatment options to be more precise than ever before. When critical tissue and organs are close to the tumor, a slight positional error could lead to radiation damage to the healthy cells. IRGT is created and utilized to allow detection of these such errors by the information taken through pre-radiotherapy imaging which can be used for corrections.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)

Another type of treatment that is possible today due to advances in newer technology is SBRT. This treatment delivers very high separate doses of radiation over only a few treatment fractions to destroy small tumors anywhere in the body of patient. The side effects of this however, tissues that are close in proximity to the tumor is likely to get damaged due to the high radiation dose. Since the amount of normal tissue effected is small in the high does region, toxicity is less. 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/.

Radparts is a unique supplier of OEM replacement parts for linear accelerators and CT scanners.  We partner with Acceletronics who offers a number of services surrounding LINACS including sales of new and refurbished radiation equipment, the servicing of radiation equipment, and a variety of services including relocation and removal of linear accelerators.  This arrangement allows us to provide services that other companies cannot. Selling new and refurbished medical equipment can be quiet a challenge.  This is true of CT scanners, linear accelerators, MRI systems, and other higher valued medical equipment.  Medical facilities face a great deal of challenges of their own with making large scaled equipment such as financing, regulations, time issues, delays, and a million other obstacles that can cause delays.  When working with the team at Acceletronics and Radparts we help to create a process that is practically seamless for our clients.  This allows you to focus on growing their business and creating an environment to offer the most complete and comprehensive patient care program for patients undergoing radiation therapy.

Why We Are Better Than the Rest

• Short-Terms Solutions – Sometimes facilities need a little more time to prepare for the installation and delivery of their new or refurbished linear accelerator.  When our clients find themselves in need of a temporary solution to ensure their patients needs are met, we have them covered.  Our sister company, Acceletronics, has pre-owned equipment that can be purchased to buy some time. These systems can then be utilized as a back up at a later date or resold.  This is often a more affordable solution than renting a mobile unit.
• Financing – New facilities and healthcare centers do not often have a lot of capital to buy and operate new medical equipment.  We offer financing options as well as less expensive refurbished equipment that can be used to provide quality care to patients until facilities are more established.
• Contracts for Service – We offer a number of contracts for servicing equipment. The major benefit is the team effort between Acceletronics and Radparts which ensures the parts that are needed to service your equipment are available and ready when needed.  Here at Radparts we specialize in parts for repairing all linear accelerators and radiation equipment.  We are the world’s largest independent distributor of OEM replacement parts for LINAC. With over 65,000 parts in stock and 3,200 individual line items – we are almost guaranteed to have what is needed to service or repair your equipment in a timely fashion.

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/.