Elekta Versa HD Signature

Elekta Versa HD is a linear accelerator (linac) used to deliver external beam radiotherapy. Unlike internal radiation, it sends focused beams of high-energy radiation toward the tumour from outside the body, with nothing left inside afterward. The system pairs the treatment beam with built-in imaging, so the team can see the tumour's position immediately before and during a session. Fine, computer-controlled leaves inside the machine shape the beam to the contour of the tumour and can vary its intensity across the field, which is the basis of modern techniques such as intensity-modulated and stereotactic radiotherapy.

Before treatment begins, the team builds a detailed three-dimensional plan from your scans, mapping the exact shape of the tumour and the healthy structures nearby. During each session you lie still on a couch while the machine rotates around you and delivers the beam from several angles, so the dose adds up inside the tumour while each healthy area receives only a small share. The on-board imaging confirms your position and accounts for small movements, and the beam can be adjusted to follow the breathing motion of organs such as the lung. You feel nothing during the beam itself; it is similar to having an x-ray taken.

The system is used for many solid tumours, including cancers of the head and neck, lung, prostate, breast, brain, and other sites, as a primary treatment or alongside surgery and drug therapy. Its precision makes it especially valuable for tumours that sit close to sensitive structures, where sparing nearby tissue matters most, and for small, well-defined targets that suit focused, high-dose stereotactic treatment. Whether radiotherapy is right, and on what schedule, always depends on the individual diagnosis; a radiation oncologist decides the approach after reviewing your case and imaging.

Tightly shaped, image-guided beams allow a high dose to reach the tumour while limiting exposure to healthy organs, which can mean fewer and milder side effects. Treatment is non-invasive and given on an outpatient basis, so there is no surgery, no anaesthesia, and usually no hospital stay. A course is typically divided into several short sessions over days or weeks, and many people keep working or travelling during that time. Side effects, when they occur, are usually limited to the treated area and ease after the course ends; your care team explains what to expect and monitors you throughout.