CION Ameerpet
Radiation Therapy · Choosing a Centre & District Access
Questions to Ask About the Machine — Before You Commit
Medically reviewed by Dr. Kirti Ranjan Mohanty, Radiation Oncologist, MBBS · MD (Radiation Oncology), Senior Consultant · Last reviewed August 2026
Most families ask a version of “is this a good machine?” It is the right instinct and the wrong question, because it invites a yes — and a yes tells you nothing. Three specific questions get three checkable answers: which technique and why, how old the equipment is and when it was last calibrated, and who plans the treatment and who checks the machine.
- Specific questions, not reassurance — eight questions you can read off your phone at the reception desk, each with a note on what a solid answer sounds like.
- Age is not the headline — calibration records and daily quality-assurance checks tell you more about accuracy than the year the machine was installed.
- Ask who, not just what — the radiation oncologist, the medical physicist, the therapists and the safety officer are four different people, and you can ask for all four.
- Where your treatment actually happens — your radiotherapy is delivered at an NABH-accredited partner centre; CION Cancer Clinics coordinates your treatment plan, your oncology team and your care throughout.
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The short answer
What should I ask about the radiation machine before I commit?
Ask three things. Which technique will be used, and why that one. How old the machine is, and when it was last calibrated. Who plans the treatment, and who checks the equipment. Those three answers tell you more about the radiotherapy you are about to receive than any brochure, any waiting-room photograph or any brand name on the casing.
The reason to be specific is simple. “Is this a good machine?” can only be answered with yes. “What year was it installed and when was it last calibrated?” can only be answered with a date, or with an admission that nobody knows. One of those questions moves you forward. The other leaves you exactly where you started, holding a reassurance you have no way to check.
You are also allowed to ask. Radiation centres field questions about technique, calibration and staffing from insurers, auditors and referring doctors every week. Asking the medical physicist about the machine and the oncologist about the plan is not a challenge to anyone’s competence. It is how an informed patient behaves, and a centre that is comfortable with its answers will not mind giving them.
Your radiotherapy is delivered at an NABH-accredited partner centre, which owns and operates the equipment. CION Cancer Clinics coordinates your treatment plan, your oncology team and your care throughout — we do not own or operate radiotherapy machines ourselves, and we are not ourselves NABH-accredited.
This page is general patient information written to help you ask better questions. It is not a diagnosis, not a treatment recommendation, and not a substitute for advice from your own oncology team.
Did you know?
A radiotherapy machine is not calibrated once and left alone. Daily, monthly and annual quality-assurance checks are standard practice in radiation oncology, and ASTRO’s safety guidance treats that schedule as a core part of accurate delivery — which is why a maintenance record tells you more about accuracy than the year on the installation plate.
Question one
Which technique will be used, and why that one?
Ask for the technique by name, and for the reason behind it. The common options are listed below. Which one suits you depends on the cancer site, the stage, the shape of the target and which healthy organs sit close to it. It should not depend on which machine the centre would prefer to keep busy that week.
NCCN and ASTRO guidance usually describes more than one acceptable approach for a given site, so a centre choosing between options is entirely normal. What you want is the sentence that explains the choice: this technique, for this reason, instead of that one. If nobody can give you that sentence, the gap is in the explaining, and it is worth pressing once more before you agree to start.
Technique
Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy
Beams shaped to the outline of the target using a planning CT. Long-established and widely used where the target sits at a reasonable distance from sensitive organs.
Technique
Intensity-modulated radiotherapy
The intensity of the beam is varied across the field, so the dose can be bent around structures you want to spare. Commonly used where the target wraps around something delicate.
Technique
Rotational, arc-based delivery
Intensity-modulated treatment delivered while the machine head rotates around you. The practical difference for the patient is usually a shorter time lying on the couch.
Technique
Image-guided radiotherapy
Imaging taken on the machine to confirm your position before the beam is switched on. Worth asking whether that imaging happens every session or only on some of them.
Technique
Stereotactic radiotherapy
A high dose delivered over very few sessions with tight margins. It depends heavily on immobilisation, imaging and quality assurance, so ask how often the centre performs it.
Technique
Brachytherapy
The radiation source is placed inside or next to the target rather than aimed from outside. For some sites it is a standard part of the accepted treatment sequence, not an optional extra.
No technique on this list is superior in the abstract. Each is a tool with a shape of problem it fits. The follow-up question that gets you the most information is: “What was the alternative, and why was it set aside for me?”
Question two
How old is the equipment, and does age matter?
Age matters less than maintenance. Ask the year the machine was installed, when it was last calibrated, and whether quality-assurance checks are run before the first patient of the day. A well-maintained older machine with current calibration records can deliver dose accurately. An unmaintained new one cannot.
What age genuinely changes is capability. Some techniques need imaging built into the machine, or a particular way of shaping and delivering the beam. So the honest version of the question is not “how old is it” but “can it do what my plan needs?” If the answer is no, that is useful information — and you want it before you start, not three sessions in.
- Year of installation — a plain date. Not “it’s a modern machine”, which is not a date and cannot be checked.
- Last calibration and the QA schedule — when it was last checked, and how often output verification is done. Records exist; ask whether they are current.
- Whether the machine can deliver your plan — if imaging or a specific delivery method is part of your plan, confirm this machine does it.
- What happens if it goes down mid-course — is there a second machine, is there a backup arrangement, and who telephones you.
- Who to ask — the medical physicist or the radiation safety officer will answer these faster and more precisely than the front desk.
If you get a vague answer to a specific question, that is data too. Ask it once more, plainly, and see whether the second answer is any firmer than the first.
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Take the questions to someone who knows the answers
A radiation oncologist can tell you what a solid answer sounds like — free, confidential, no commitment to change centres.
Question three
Who plans my treatment, and who checks the machine?
Four roles. Ask for all four by name — it is a reasonable request, and the answers come quickly at a well-staffed centre.
A radiation oncologist sets the intent, the total dose and how it is divided into sessions. A medical physicist builds the plan against those instructions and verifies it independently before your first session. Radiation therapists position you and deliver each treatment. A radiological safety officer covers radiation safety for the facility as a whole.
The radiation oncologist — what and how much
Decides the intent of treatment, the total dose, the number of sessions and the dose limits for the healthy organs nearby. Ask who this doctor is, and whether they will review your plan again during the course.
The medical physicist — the plan and the machine
Builds the plan, checks it independently before it is used, and runs the machine’s quality-assurance schedule. A centre that can name its physicist as readily as its doctors is telling you something about how it is staffed.
The radiation therapists — every single session
The people who position you and deliver treatment daily. They are the ones who will notice if something is different from yesterday, so ask how they escalate a concern and to whom.
The radiological safety officer — the facility
A licensed radiotherapy facility in India must have a named, qualified radiological safety officer. Ask for the name. A centre that cannot produce one has a gap worth raising before you commit.
One more question belongs here: was my case discussed at a tumour board? A plan reviewed by a group of specialists has been through a different level of scrutiny than a plan drawn by one person alone.
Read these off your phone
The eight questions to ask about the machine before you commit
Each one is short enough to ask at a reception desk and specific enough that a vague reply is obvious. Open a question to see why it matters and what a solid answer sounds like.
“Which technique are you planning for me, and why that one?”
A solid answer names the technique and gives one clinical reason it fits your cancer site and the organs sitting near it. It should take about two sentences. A weak answer describes the machine rather than your plan, or says the centre uses this approach for everyone. Guidance from bodies such as NCCN and ASTRO usually allows more than one reasonable option, so the choice itself is rarely the issue — the inability to explain it is.
“What was the alternative, and why was it set aside for me?”
This is the single highest-yield question on the page, because it forces the reasoning into the open. You are asking the team to show its working. A good answer might be that a gentler technique was considered but the target sits too close to an organ that has to be spared, or that a shorter schedule was possible but the position of the disease made it unsuitable. An answer that treats the alternative as unthinkable is worth a second opinion.
“What year was this machine installed, and when was it last calibrated?”
Two dates, both of which exist in the centre’s records. The installation year sets your expectations about capability. The calibration date tells you whether the equipment is being looked after now. A centre that gives you the first date but not the second has answered only half the question. Ask the medical physicist rather than the reception desk; this is their daily work and the answer usually arrives without hesitation.
“Are quality-assurance checks run before the first patient each day?”
Daily, monthly and annual quality-assurance testing is standard practice in radiation oncology, and the daily check is what keeps the dose delivered close to the dose planned. The answer you want is a routine yes with a description of who does it and when. If the reply is that checks happen periodically, ask what periodically means. This is not an unusual question; it is the question insurers and auditors ask too.
“Is imaging done on the machine before every session, or only some?”
Position verification is how a plan drawn on a scan becomes an accurate treatment on the day. How often it is needed depends on the technique and the site, so there is no single correct frequency. What matters is that the centre can tell you the frequency for your plan and the reason for it. If your plan calls for imaging every session, confirm the machine you are booked on can actually do that.
“Who is the medical physicist, and who checks the plan before it starts?”
An independent check of the plan before the first session is a basic safety step, and it is done by someone other than the person who built it. Ask who that is. Ask, in the same breath, whether your case was discussed at a tumour board. Two people named quickly, plus a tumour board date, is a much stronger answer than a general assurance that everything is reviewed carefully.
“How many sessions, over how many days, and what if the machine is down?”
A radiation course is designed as a whole and built around consecutive working days, so an unplanned gap is a real disruption rather than a minor inconvenience. Ask for the number of sessions and the expected finish date in writing. Then ask what the centre does when a machine is unavailable: is there a second machine, is there an arrangement elsewhere, and who telephones you. This matters most if you are travelling in.
“What is included in the estimate, and what will be billed separately?”
Ask for a written estimate that separates simulation and planning, imaging, and the delivery of each session, and ask what sits outside it — review scans, supportive care, admissions. Any figure quoted verbally is indicative only until it is written down, and it can move if the plan changes. Ask about scheme cover and empanelment in the same conversation, at the billing desk, so you are not making a second trip for it.
Coming in from outside Hyderabad
Travelling in from another district? Two more questions to ask
Ask how many consecutive days you need to be in the city, and ask what happens on a day the machine is unavailable. A radiation course runs on consecutive working days, so a schedule you only discover at the reception desk on day one can cost a district family a wasted journey and a week of accommodation booked around the wrong dates.
Get the schedule in writing before you book a room. Ask who telephones you if a session moves, and confirm the number they will call. Any travel time you are quoted — by a centre, a driver or a website — is indicative only and varies with traffic, season and road works, so build in more margin than the estimate suggests, particularly for a first-session appointment you cannot afford to miss.
If you are making this journey regularly, the practicalities are worth reading properly before you commit to a centre. Families travelling down the coast will find the route, the paperwork and the accommodation questions covered in Radiation Treatment for Patients From North Andhra. Coming across from the delta districts, the same ground is covered in Radiation Treatment in Hyderabad for Patients From Vijayawada and Guntur. From the north of Telangana, see Radiation Treatment in Hyderabad for Patients From Karimnagar.
One last practical point. If English is not the language you are comfortable asking difficult questions in, ask a Telugu-speaking care coordinator to make the call with you. Coordinators do this with district families every week, and they know the wording that gets a straight answer instead of a polite one.
You are allowed to ask
A centre confident in its answers will not mind the questions
Whether you are the patient or the son or daughter doing the homework, a radiation oncologist can help you ask clearly and read the answers properly.
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Common questions
Questions about the radiation machine — answered
Which radiation technique will be used, and why that one?
Ask for the technique by name and the reason behind it. The common options include three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy, image-guided radiotherapy, stereotactic radiotherapy and brachytherapy. Which one suits you depends on the cancer site, the stage, the shape of the target and which healthy organs sit close to it. A clear answer names the technique, gives one reason it fits your situation, and says what the alternative was and why it was set aside. NCCN and ASTRO guidance describes more than one acceptable option for most sites, so a centre choosing between them is normal. A centre that cannot explain the choice in a sentence is the concern, not the choice itself.
How old is the radiation machine, and does its age matter?
Age matters less than maintenance. Ask the year the machine was installed, when it was last calibrated, and whether quality-assurance checks are run before the first patient each day. A well-maintained older machine with current calibration records can deliver dose accurately. What age does change is capability: some techniques need imaging built into the machine or a particular delivery method, so the honest question is not how old is it but can it do what my plan needs. If the answer is that your plan needs something this machine cannot do, that is a useful answer, and it is one you want before you start rather than three sessions in.
Who plans my radiation treatment and who checks the machine?
Four roles, and you can ask to have all four named. A radiation oncologist sets the intent, the total dose and how it is divided into sessions. A medical physicist builds the plan against those instructions, verifies it independently before the first session, and runs the machine's quality-assurance schedule. Radiation therapists position you and deliver each session. A radiological safety officer covers radiation safety for the facility. Ask whether your case was discussed at a tumour board. A centre that can name the physicist as readily as it names the doctor is telling you something about how it is staffed.
Is a newer or more expensive machine always the right choice for me?
No. The right question is whether the technique your plan needs can be delivered accurately and safely on the equipment available, by a team that does that work regularly. A newer machine run without daily quality assurance, or a demanding technique handled by a team that rarely uses it, is not an upgrade. Cost tends to follow the technique and the number of sessions rather than the age of the equipment. Ask for a written estimate that separates planning, imaging and delivery, and treat any figure you are quoted as indicative until it is in writing. Match the machine to your plan, not to a brochure.
What should I ask if I am travelling to Hyderabad from another district?
Two extra questions. First, how many consecutive days will you need to be in the city, and can the sessions be scheduled in one block rather than spread across weeks. Second, what happens if the machine is unavailable for a day, and who calls you. A radiation course is built around consecutive working days, so a gap you only find out about at the reception desk costs a district family a wasted journey. Any travel or journey time quoted to you is indicative and varies with traffic, season and road works. Ask the centre to put the schedule in writing before you book accommodation.
Is it rude to ask a radiation centre these questions?
No, and it is not a sign of distrust. Radiation centres answer questions about technique, calibration and staffing from insurers, auditors and referring doctors as a matter of routine. Framing helps: ask the medical physicist or the front desk about the machine, and save the clinical questions for the consultation. Ask factually rather than as a challenge. If English is not comfortable, ask a Telugu-speaking care coordinator to make the call with you. What matters is not how you ask but whether you get a specific answer. A specific question that gets a vague answer has told you something worth knowing.
This page is general patient information about the questions worth asking a radiation therapy centre before starting treatment. It is not a diagnosis, not a treatment recommendation, and not a substitute for advice from your own oncology team. Your radiotherapy is delivered at an NABH-accredited partner centre; CION Cancer Clinics coordinates your treatment plan, your oncology team and your care throughout.