In 2003, 18,800 Canadians were expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, 2000 of whom were in Alberta. Prostate cancer represents a significant workload in most Canadian cancer centres. At the Cross Cancer Institute (CCI), approximately 400 patients underwent a radical course of external beam radiotherapy in 2002. Typically, each course of radiation consisted of 35 fractions given over 7 weeks. Assuming an ideal efficiency of patient turnover on a given linear accelerator, 3000 machine hours would be required to treat 400 patients.