The British government is buying 10 Elekta-made linear accelerators as part of a plan to address shortages in radiation therapy services, according to the Swedish company.

Stockholm-based Elekta said the National Health Service Supply Chain has placed an order for 10 of its Synergy devices. The linacs, which allow for 3-D and 4-D image-guided radiation therapy, will be delivered over the next year and a half, Elekta said.

Financial terms of the agreement weren't released.
A 2007 survey by the UK's National Radiotherapy Advisory Group argued that by 2016 England's health services would need to provide about 2.9 million fractions nationwide, or 54,000 fractions per million people, in order to meet optimal treatment coverage for the country. The report's authors estimated, at the time the report was done, there were only about 1.5 million fractions delivered yearly in England.

In the report, the NRAG suggested that to ensure greater efficiency of services, linacs get replaced every decade and that new and replacement machines use image-guided technologies, among other recommendations.

Elekta's Synergy got CE marking, allowing it to be sold within the European Union, in 2003. It received Food and Drug Administration clearance the same year.

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