# A cost-effective radiation treatment delivery system for the low- and middle-income countries

> **NIH NIH UH3** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2021 · $839,655

## Abstract

There are striking global disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Less than 5% of global cancer
resources are directed toward low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), and the cancer mortality-to-incidence
ratio in LMICs is nearly double compared to high-income countries. Better, more accessible therapies are
urgently needed to address this challenge. Radiation therapy is one of the most cost-effective cancer
therapies. It is non-invasive, allows for organ preservation, and is indicated for the majority of the common
cancer types in LMICs. The Global Task Force on Radiotherapy for Cancer Control suggest that scaling up RT
will result in a net economic benefit of US$11 to $280 Billion per country over the next 20 years. At present,
however, state-of-art targeted and sufficiently organ-sparing radiation therapy, such as intensity-modulated
radiation therapy (IMRT), remains out-of-reach for most cancer patients in LMICs, largely because the
technology is too complex and costly. The goal of this proposal is to develop a cost-effective system for
delivering radiation therapy that will provide state-of-the-art IMRT with affordable, reliable technology. This will
be achieved using a ring physical compensator system that provides highly efficient beam delivery and is
adaptable to either a pre-existing Cobalt-60 device or a linear accelerator. We have developed prototypes that
have already been constructed by our industrial partner. The design maximizes efficiency and patient
throughput while minimizing requirements for maintenance, infrastructure, and staffing to perform quality
assurance. This project brings together a team of radiation oncology clinicians, medical physicists, engineers,
and other educators with industrial partners. The project will be undertaken in close collaboration with an
established partner clinical site in Chennai, India. We have four Specific Aims: UG3 Aim 1: Further test and
develop a physical compensator system capable of delivering highly efficient IMRT treatments. UG3 Aim 2:
Develop a clinical training and implementation program specifically designed to support use of the physical
compensator system in the LMIC environment. UH3 Aim 3: Test the performance and efficiency of the system
in clinical operation at the partner site cancer clinic in India. UH3 Aim 4: Perform a clinical validation trial of the
system to deliver IMRT in patients with select disease sites at the partner site, and test the hypothesis that
toxicity and local tumor control are equivalent to those achieved in cooperative group trials in developed
countries.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9999471
- **Project number:** 5UH3CA211310-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Eric C Ford
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $839,655
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9999471

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9999471, A cost-effective radiation treatment delivery system for the low- and middle-income countries (5UH3CA211310-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9999471. Licensed CC0.

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