Global Radiotherapy Industry Growth and Trends Forecast to 2032

Radiation Therapy is a method of treating cancer. It is divided into external beam radiation therapy, also known as teleradiation therapy, and internal beam radiation therapy, also known as brachytherapy. The principle is to use high-energy ionizing radiation (such as X-rays, gamma rays, high-energy electrons or heavy particles) generated by medical electron linear accelerators or radioactive nuclei to control or destroy malignant cells. Radiation therapy can cure some cancers that are only present in specific parts of the body, or it can be used as adjuvant therapy to prevent tumor recurrence after surgical removal of the primary malignant tumor (such as to treat early-stage breast cancer). Ionizing radiation damages the DNA of cancer tissue, causing its cells to die. In order to leave normal tissue (such as skin or organs, through which the radiation must pass to treat tumors) unaffected, the radiation beam will hit the cancerous tissue from several specific angles. Tumors produce much greater absorbed doses than surrounding healthy tissue. In addition to the tumor itself, the radiation field may include draining lymph nodes if they are clinically or radiologically associated with malignancy or are considered to be at risk for subclinical malignant spread. Either way, cells are killed by destroying the malignant cells' genetic material (DNA). Cancer cells whose DNA is damaged beyond repair will stop dividing or die. When damaged cells die, they are broken down and eliminated by the body. Radiation therapy does not kill cancer cells immediately; the level of DNA damage that causes cancer cell death requires days or weeks of treatment.

Radiation therapy equipment is an important therapeutic tool in current oncology treatment. Over the past two decades, this goal has been the driving force for the advancement of clinical care in radiation oncology, from traditional radiation therapy to advanced therapies such as IMRT, IGRT, and VMAT. Treatment modalities, SRS, SBRT, ART, brachytherapy and proton therapy.

The most common form of radiation oncology involves beams of X-rays being emitted from outside the patient's body, a process sometimes called external beam radiation therapy. A device called a medical linear accelerator generates a high-energy X-ray beam and delivers the radiation to the patient while he or she lies on the treatment table. The linear accelerator rotates around the patient by emitting radiation beams from different angles that conform to the shape of the tumor. This focuses the radiation on the tumor while minimizing the dose delivered to surrounding healthy tissue. Traditional radiation therapy typically involves multiple or fractionated treatments of the tumor, often requiring more than 40 courses. Linacs can also emit electron beams to treat diseases closer to the surface of the body.

IMRT is an advanced form of external beam radiation therapy in which the shape and intensity of the radiation beam are optimally varied (modulated) within the target area. IMRT allows the radiation dose to be more precisely matched to the volume of the tumor, allowing doctors to deliver higher doses of radiation to the tumor than with traditional radiation therapy while limiting radiation dose to nearby healthy tissue. In this way, clinicians can design and implement an individualized treatment plan for each patient, targeting tumors at the millimeter scale. IMRT can be used to treat a variety of malignant and benign diseases, such as: head and neck cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, gynecological cancer, and central nervous system cancer. IMRT has become a recognized standard of cancer treatment worldwide.

VMAT is a major advance in IMRT that allows physicians to simultaneously control three parameters: (i) the rate at which the linac gantry rotates around the patient, (ii) the beam shaping aperture, and (iii) the beam shaping aperture to which the radiation dose is delivered patient. This creates a finely shaped IMRT dose distribution that closely matches the size and shape of the tumor, and results in faster treatment times.

IGRT is another advanced form of external beam radiation therapy that complements IMRT, VMAT, SRS, and SBRT to enhance treatment effectiveness. IMRT helps doctors align the beam with tumors more precisely, while IGRT allows doctors to see how tumors and normal tissue move or change during treatment, improving treatment accuracy. This allows clinicians to tighten the margin of certainty around the tumor and protect more of the surrounding healthy tissue, potentially improving outcomes. We believe IGRT has become the accepted standard of care within the U.S. radiation oncology community.

SRS and SBRT, often collectively referred to as radiosurgery, are advanced ablative radiation therapy procedures delivered through small amounts of high-dose radiation therapy. Radiosurgery often uses advanced image guidance to precisely focus radiation beams from multiple directions on the target and minimize dose to surrounding normal tissue. Radiation oncologists, surgeons, and other oncology specialists are increasingly recognizing radiosurgery as a useful tool for treating cancerous and noncancerous lesions anywhere in the body.

Radiation therapy equipment includes medical electron linear accelerators, gamma knife, cyberknife, tomography equipment, proton and heavy ion equipment, etc. Among them, the most commonly used in the world is medical electron linear accelerator. Medical electron linear accelerators are usually used clinically to define and plan treatment target areas based on CT images, and to provide a certain dose of uniform irradiation to the target area. In radiotherapy, target area delineation, measurement prescription design, radiotherapy plan design, etc. can directly affect the effect of radiotherapy. But because the delineation and design work relies on technicians and radiation therapy doctors, there is a lot of uncertainty. Positioning error is one of the important factors affecting the accuracy of radiotherapy. In addition, there are many factors that cause differences in positioning and imaging of patients during the entire radiotherapy process, making it difficult for the entire radiotherapy effect to fully achieve the expected goals.

Proton and heavy particle therapy are another modality. Proton therapy is another form of external beam radiation therapy that uses proton particles produced by a cyclotron rather than X-ray beams from a linear accelerator. The proton beam's signature energy distribution curve, known as the "Bragg peak," allows tumor cells to be targeted more precisely and with even lower doses to nearby healthy tissue than the linear accelerator's X-ray beam. This makes proton therapy a preferred option for treating certain cancers, particularly childhood cancers and tumors near critical structures such as the spine. Pencil beam scanning capability is an advanced way of delivering a proton beam that protects healthy tissue better than scattering and collimation of the proton beam. Pencil beam scanning therapy is often called intensity modulated proton therapy ("IMPT"). In the world of cancer treatment, heavy ions are another name for carbon ions (C6+). It is said that the dose concentration of heavy ions is better than that of protons, and the killing effect on cancer cells is 2-3 times that of protons. This effect can reduce the number of fractions and shorten the treatment cycle. Heavy ion therapy is also expected to be effective in treating cancers that are resistant to conventional X-ray radiation therapy, such as sarcomas and adenocarcinomas, locally advanced cancers, and deep-seated cancers. Broadly speaking, heavy ion beams include any beam of particles heavier than electrons. In heavy ion radiation therapy in Japan, the term "heavy ion beam" refers to a beam of nuclei (heavy ions) of any atom heavier than helium (He) or with an atomic number greater than helium. In Japan, carbon ion beams have been used for heavy ion beam therapy for nearly 20 years. Therefore, "heavy ion beam" currently refers to "carbon ion beam".

In APO Research’s 2026 assessmentt, the global Radiotherapy market generated about US$4.62 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach US$4.78 billion in 2026, reflecting a category where demand is expanding in parallel with a pronounced shift toward higher-complexity treatment delivery and software-enabled workflow. By 2032, global revenue is expected to be around US$7.8 billion (in the vicinity of US$7.76 billion), implying a 2026–2032 CAGR of about 8.4%. Growth is being pulled by three structural forces that are increasingly visible in procurement decisions: the tightening clinical expectation for conformal dose delivery and motion management (driving adoption of advanced external-beam techniques and more sophisticated imaging guidance), the gradual re-rating of oncology infrastructure in emerging markets (new centers plus capacity densification), and the steady monetization of software, upgrades, and service layers around the installed base. The principal constraint is not clinical demand but delivery capacity: capital budget cycles, construction and shielding timelines, linac and particle therapy lead times, and a persistent shortage of trained staff in planning, physics, and operations, which tends to favor platforms that compress planning-to-treatment turnaround and increase throughput without compromising safety.

Regional structure continues to be anchored by North America as the largest revenue pool, with 2026 market size at roughly US$2.0 billion (a little over 40% of the global total), supported by replacement demand, technology refresh cycles, and the depth of service and upgrade economics. Europe remains the second-largest region at about US$1.44 billion in 2026, where growth is strongly shaped by reimbursement discipline and tender cadence but supported by a clear push toward image guidance, tighter QA regimes, and network-level standardization across hospital groups. Asia Pacific is the fastest-moving region in both capacity build-out and technology adoption, reaching about US$1.24 billion in 2026 and projected to approach US$1.76 billion by 2030, with expansion driven by new cancer centers, growing procedural volumes, and a visible rise in domestic system supply in China alongside continued imports for high-end configurations. Latin America and the Middle East and Africa remain smaller in absolute value but strategically important as “project markets,” where annual outcomes can swing with major hospital builds and national procurement programs; by 2026, Latin America is around US$76 million and Middle East and Africa is about US$34 million, with growth more sensitive to financing availability and tender execution than to underlying incidence.

By modality, External Beam Radiotherapy remains the clear revenue backbone of the market, reaching about US$4.38 billion in 2026, while Internal Beam Radiotherapy accounts for roughly US$398 million in the same year. The external-beam mix is where most of the premiumization is concentrated: the economic case increasingly favors platforms and ecosystems that support higher precision, shorter fractionation schedules where clinically appropriate, improved motion handling, and better integration with imaging and oncology information systems. In parallel, internal-beam growth is typically steadier and less “capex-spiky,” shaped more by procedure volumes and hospital adoption patterns than by large construction projects, which helps explain why it grows but does not change the overall market shape.

From an indication perspective, demand is concentrated in high-burden solid tumors that drive both volume and equipment utilization. Lung cancer remains the largest single treatment segment, moving from about US$1.08 billion in 2026 toward US$1.54 billion by 2030, reflecting both incidence and the intensity of motion and targeting requirements that reward modern planning and delivery capabilities. Breast cancer follows at about US$917 million in 2026 and rises toward US$1.29 billion by 2030, with continued emphasis on throughput, reproducibility, and workflow efficiency in high-volume clinics. Colorectal and prostate cancer each represent substantial, durable pools, with 2026 revenue around US$722 million and US$609 million respectively, benefiting from broad treatment penetration and standardized care pathways that often translate into multi-year replacement and upgrade demand once a center commits to a platform.

Competition in radiotherapy remains bifurcated: the conventional linac segment is dominated by a small number of global leaders with deep installed bases, while Asia Pacific, particularly China, is seeing a more active layer of domestic challengers that compete aggressively on tender execution, localization, and service footprint. Particle therapy sits on a different economic curve, defined by high project complexity, longer sales cycles, and more stringent site readiness and clinical program requirements, which tends to concentrate activity among a limited set of specialized suppliers and well-capitalized providers. Across 2026–2032, supplier differentiation is increasingly determined by execution quality and ecosystem depth rather than hardware alone: software integration, adaptive workflows, service uptime, upgrade pathways, clinical application support, and the ability to deliver predictable throughput under real-world staffing constraints are becoming the decisive factors in both winning tenders and sustaining margins.

This report provides a structured, data-driven view of the global Radiotherapy market, combining harmonized quantitative metrics with targeted qualitative insight to support business and growth strategy, market positioning, and capital allocation.

The Radiotherapy market size, estimates, and forecasts are presented in terms of sales volume (units) and revenue (US$ million), with 2025 as the base year and historical and forecast data for 2021-2032. The report segments the global Radiotherapy market by Type, Application, region/country, and company, provides regional market sizes at the segment level, profiles the competitive landscape and key players and their market ranks, and reviews technology trends and new product developments relevant to Radiotherapy.

This section analyzes the strategies and performance of leading manufacturers in the global Radiotherapy market, including portfolio focus, innovation and product development, mergers and acquisitions, collaborations, and geographic expansion used to sustain or enhance competitive positions. It also summarizes recent corporate developments and key financial indicators and provides global revenue, price, and sales volume data by manufacturer for 2020-2025, enabling benchmarking of scale, pricing, and market share and supporting assessment of market concentration through indicators such as CR5 and CR10.

Radiotherapy Market by Company

Varian Medical Systems (Siemens Healthineers)

Elekta

Hitachi

IBA(Ion Beam Applications S.A)

Accuray

Mevion Medical Systems

Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare

Shinva Medical Instrument

Toshiba

Neusoft Medical Systems

Chengdu Linike Medical

Sumitomo Heavy Industries

Jiangsu Haiming Medical Equipment

SinoPower Accelerator

External Beam Radiotherapy

Internal Beam Radiotherapy

Lung Cancer

Breast Cancer

Rectal Cancer

Prostate Cancer

Stomach Cancer

Liver Cancer

Cervical Cancer

Lung Cancer

Head and Neck Cancer

Other

North America

United States

Canada

Mexico

Europe

Germany

France

U.K.

Italy

Russia

Spain

Netherlands

Switzerland

Sweden

Poland

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

South Korea

India

Australia

Taiwan

Southeast Asia

South America

Brazil

Argentina

Chile

Middle East & Africa

Egypt

South Africa

Israel

Türkiye

GCC Countries

High-impact rendering factors and drivers have been studied in this report to aid the readers to understand the general development. Moreover, the report includes restraints and challenges that may act as stumbling blocks on the way of the players. This will assist the users to be attentive and make informed decisions related to business. Specialists have also laid their focus on the upcoming business prospects.

1. This report will help the readers to understand the competition within the industries and strategies for the competitive environment to enhance the potential profit. The report also focuses on the competitive landscape of the global Radiotherapy market, and introduces in detail the market share, industry ranking, competitor ecosystem, market performance, new product development, operation situation, expansion, and acquisition. etc. of the main players, which helps the readers to identify the main competitors and deeply understand the competition pattern of the market.

2. This report will help stakeholders to understand the global industry status and trends of Radiotherapy and provides them with information on key market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities.

3. This report will help stakeholders to understand competitors better and gain more insights to strengthen their position in their businesses. The competitive landscape section includes the market share and rank (in volume and value), competitor ecosystem, new product development, expansion, and acquisition.

4. This report stays updated with novel technology integration, features, and the latest developments in the market.

5. This report helps stakeholders to gain insights into which regions to target globally.

6. This report helps stakeholders to gain insights into the end-user perception concerning the adoption of Radiotherapy.

7. This report helps stakeholders to identify some of the key players in the market and understand their valuable contribution.

Chapter 1: Introduces the study scope of this report, executive summary of market segments by type, market size segments for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa.

Chapter 2: Introduces the market dynamics, latest developments of the market, the driving factors and restrictive factors of the market, the challenges and risks faced by manufacturers in the industry, and the analysis of relevant policies in the industry.

Chapter 3: Detailed analysis of Radiotherapy manufacturers competitive landscape, price, sales, revenue, market share and ranking, latest development plan, merger, and acquisition information, etc.

Chapter 4: Sales, revenue of Radiotherapy in regional level. It provides a quantitative analysis of the market size and development potential of each region and introduces the future development prospects, and market space in the world.

Chapter 5: Introduces market segments by application, market size segment for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa.

Chapter 6: Provides profiles of key players, introducing the basic situation of the main companies in the market in detail, including product sales, revenue, price, gross margin, product introduction, recent development, etc.

Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa, sales and revenue by country.

Chapter 12: Analysis of industrial chain, key raw materials, manufacturing cost, and market dynamics.

Chapter 13: Concluding Insights of the report.