The process of radiotherapy involves irradiating radiation in the tumours to destroy cancer cells shielding healthy tissues and vital organs from the effect of radiation. Therefore the objective of this paper is an effort for understanding the Intensity Modulation Radiation Therapy (IMRT) machine along with its treatment planning. The radiotherapy terminologies that enumerates details about Dose Volume Histogram (DVH), bixels, voxels and the standard for sharing medical images compatible with various devices known as Digital Imaging Communications in Medicine (DICOM).Finally the optimization techniques involved in cancer treatment using Intensity Modulation Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is formulated. The linprog tool in MATLAB is used to solve the formulated Linear Programming Problem (LLP) to illustrate the application of operation research in radiotherapy. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd.