The burden of cancer is increasing in India and so are newer technologies for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and management. Radiation therapy has been a key treatment option for cancer. India has seen significant advancements recently in radiation therapies such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). As a result, the emergence of new radiation therapy devices in India will further boost the domestic oncology market, says GlobalData, a leading data, and analytics company.

Ayshi Ganguly, Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Traditional radiotherapy devices focus on radiating an organ within the body. These devices destroy and slow the growth of carcinogenic cells but can potentially harm the associated healthy cells. This necessitates new technology that can target only the affected tumor without causing irreversible damage to healthy tissues.”

Against this backdrop, Sweden-rooted medical device company Elekta aims to introduce its latest radiation technology MR-Linac in India. MR-Linac is a new-age cancer treatment device aided with a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner. This device focuses on radiating targeted organs with 3-dimensional detailing without damaging associated tissues, thereby offering safer radiation therapy to patients.

Ganguly concludes: “MR-guided radiation therapy scanners should score over the traditional radiation treatments causing lesser damage to patients. Introduction of such devices in India will encourage domestic companies to invest in similar technologies soon. This device has the potential to disrupt the Indian oncology market and it will eventually revolutionize the landscape of radiation treatments in India.”