"Our parts division has really just gotten off the ground," says Wolff. "We are actually the exclusive dealer for L-3 Electron Devices."

Most sought-after systems in the used market

"[The] Varian 21EX, with dynamic MLC and aS500 electronic portal imagers are the most sought after models, which reflects the market leadership for new machines," notes Richardson, who sees fewer calls for Siemens and slightly more demand for Elekta systems. "Of course, customers ask for IGRT equipped technology, but so far, onboard KV imaging equipped units are too new to justify replacement, so supply is non-existent." Richards adds that during the past five years the resale market has seen an increased demand for multi-leaf collimator equipped units. Justification for that feature can be found in the revenues made possible by IMRT procedures.

As far as simulators go, sales of used or refurbished traditional radiographic simulators are faltering. "That has been a declining market for sometime now," says Wolff.

Accelerating sales overseas

Both manufacturers and independent service organizations are enjoying strong sales in international markets.

"Overseas markets in certain countries, such as some of those in South America, are buoyant. However, many developing markets in Asia are excluding importation of pre-owned medical equipment, perhaps due to bad experiences from unscrupulous sellers of unmaintainable equipment in other modalities," remarks Richardson.

Stewart Farber, president of Farber Medical Solutions, LLC, a linear accelerator brokering company, has experienced a 50% increase in used unit sales this year, with the majority of that business involving deinstallation in the U.S. and export to various international markets.

"Elekta Precise and Elekta Synergy units have been the highest priced and the most recent models that I've been able to broker this year," says Farber. "Both of those went to centers in and around Moscow."

To get more of a look at what the future holds for linear accelerators, drop by the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO), scheduled to be held in Chicago Nov. 1-5.

"There's probably going to be some interesting things going on at ASTRO - their main focus is linear accelerators," says Prosser. "All of us keep our little secrets until then."

A lot goes into deinstalling and installing a linear accelerator. To prove it, one company filmed the entire process and posted the video online (don't worry - they present it in a sped-up format). Read more and watch the video here: https://www.dotmed.com/news/story/10264

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