The new clinical electron linear accelerator (linac), a £1.5 million government-funded investment, will help ensure patients are treated with accurate doses of radiation.
Radiotherapy is used to treat cancer by using ionising radiation such as high-energy X-rays or electron beams to destroy cancer cells.
Every hospital needs to ensure that its radiotherapy equipment is stable and accurate because delivering correct radiation doses is critical.
If the dose is too low, the cancer may continue to grow. If they are too high, the patient may be endangered by healthy tissue being damaged.
NPL's new clinical linac’s ability to provide highly stable beams and accurate doses will enable calibrations with smaller uncertainties.
The new technology allows it to calibrate the full range of beam qualities currently in therapeutic use in the UK in a very short period of time. This will allow hospitals to deliver more accurate and effective radiation doses to cancer patients.
The new facility helps the UK respond to a recent report from the National Radiotherapy Advisory Group which states that the UK has a huge gap between the number of people treated with radiotherapy and optimal treatment levels.
For further information, please contact James Manning
Find out more about NPL's research in Ionising Radiation
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