The Performance of the Medical Research Council 8 MeV Linear Accelerator

The 8 MeV linear accelerator of the Medical Research Council, which is installed at Hammersmith Hospital, London, is described. An account is given of the physical measurements which have been made to enable the best use to be made of the machine for X-ray therapy. These measurements include work on protection, beam flattening, output calibration and isodose curves. The machine normally gives a stabilised dose-rate of 100 rads/min at 2 cm deep in a water phantom with its surface at 1 m from the target. Four hundred patients were treated between September 1953 and December 1954. A report is made on the operation of the machine, which has been very satisfactory.