In radiotherapy, radiation oncology specialists use radiation beams to remove cancerous cells from the body. Radiotherapy was first applied at the beginning of the 20th century and has been successfully used to treat millions of patients since. Radiation beams cause DNA damage in rapidly dividing cells (cancer cells usually divide faster than healthy cells), therefore effectively disabling them. Similar to chemotherapy, radiotherapy is also administered in cycles to reduce toxicity to healthy tissue and minimize side effects.
There are different technologies used to deliver radiation beams. While Cobalt-60 devices use radioactive materials, linear accelerators (also called LINAC) use an advanced technology called linear particle acceleration to generate the radiation beams. LINAC is a relatively new technology and is now replacing the older Cobalt-60 devices worldwide. At Oncoist, our radiotherapy units are equipped with LINAC devices to deliver the most effective and comfortable radiation treatments.