Selection and Commissioning of New Equipment

Radiotherapy Physicists working on the newly installed Gamma Knife® in the Winnipeg Centre for Gamma Knife® Surgery.

Radiation therapy equipment must be replaced periodically because its performance declines as it ages and, because old equipment may be unable to deliver new and better types of treatment needed by some patients.

Radiotherapy physicists have a large part of the responsibility for identifying the need for new equipment and for selecting the best equipment to meet the needs of our patients. When the equipment is installed, it is the radiotherapy physicists' job to test it thoroughly to ensure it meets its specifications and to collect the data needed for accurate treatment planning calculations.

Recent new equipment for which CCMB radiotherapy physicists have been responsible, includes a new linear accelerator and a new simulator, at the McDermot Avenue site and the Gamma Knife^® in the Health Sciences Centre, Department of Neurosurgery.

Major equipment we expect to work on in 2005 includes two new linear accelerators.