Design calculations of an accelerator based BSA for BNCT of brain cancer

A single coned Poly-Biz moderator designed for animal irradiation in boron neutron capture therapy

BNCT is considered to be a promising method for the treatment of malignant tumors, which ensures the selective destruction of malignant tumor cells by accumulating non-radioactive atomic boron-10 nuclei in them and subsequent irradiation with neutrons. As a result of the absorption of a neutron by boron, a nuclear reaction occurs with the release of energy in a cell containing boron, which leads to its death. To date, two drugs for targeted delivery of boron, boronophenylalanine and sodium borocaptate, have been developed, which ensures selective accumulation of boron in a number of tumors, and a number of charged particle accelerators with neutron-generating targets and with neutron beam shaping assemblies have been developed providing the quality of the neutron beam required for therapy. The paper presents a critical analysis of the methods used to form a therapeutic neutron beam and proposes a new concept of a neutron beam shaping assembly, supported by the results of numerical simulation validated by in-phantom measurements.

Analysis on the emission and potential application of Cherenkov radiation in boron neutron capture therapy: A Monte Carlo simulation study

This paper was aimed to explore the physics of Cherenkov radiation and its potential application in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). The Monte Carlo toolkit Geant4 was used to simulate the interaction between the epithermal neutron beam and the phantom containing boron-10. Results showed that Cherenkov photons can only be generated from secondary charged particles of gamma rays in BNCT, in which the 2.223 MeV prompt gamma rays are the main contributor. The number of Cherenkov photons per unit mass generated in the measurement region decreases linearly with the increase of boron concentration in both water and tissue phantom. The work presented the fundamental basis for applications of Cherenkov radiation in BNCT.