Using Gd doped carbon and GdF4 nanoparticles in proton-targeted therapy for effectiveness enhancement and thermal neutron reduction: a simulation study.

There are two major problems in proton therapy. (1) In comparison with the gamma-ray therapy, proton therapy has only ~ 10% greater biological effectiveness, and (2) the risk of the secondary neutrons in proton therapy is another unsolved problem. In this report, the increase of biological effectiveness in proton therapy has been evaluated with better performance than B in the presence of two proposed nanomaterials of GdF4 and Gd doped carbon with the thermal neutron reduction due to the presence of Gd isotope.