Quality management in BNCT at a nuclear research reactor.

Each medical intervention must be performed respecting Health Protection directives, with special attention to Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC). This is the basis of safe and reliable treatments. BNCT must apply QA programs as required for performance and safety in (conventional) radiotherapy facilities, including regular testing of performance characteristics (QC).

Sodium mercaptoundecahydro-closo-dodecaborate (BSH), a boron carrier that merits more attention.

Boron neutron capture therapy relies on the preferential delivery of a (10)B-compound to tumor cells. The BSH-biodistribution was investigated in nu/nu mice and human patients. The boron concentration was measured with prompt gamma ray spectroscopy.

Boron analysis and boron imaging in biological materials for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT).

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is based on the ability of the stable isotope 10B to capture neutrons, which leads to a nuclear reaction producing an alpha- and a 7Li-particle, both having a high biological effectiveness and a very short range in tissue, being limited to approximately one cell diameter. This opens the possibility for a highly selective cancer therapy. BNCT strongly depends on the selective uptake of 10B in tumor cells and on its distribution inside the cells.

Neutron activation of patients following boron neutron capture therapy of brain tumors at the high flux reactor (HFR) Petten (EORTC Trials 11961 and 11011).

Background And Purpose: At the High Flux Reactor (HFR), Petten, The Netherlands, EORTC clinical trials of Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) have been in progress since 1997. BNCT involves the irradiation of cancer patients by a beam of neutrons, with an energy range of predominantly 1 eV to 10 keV. The patient is infused with a tumor-seeking, (10)B-loaded compound prior to irradiation.

Boron concentrations in brain during boron neutron capture therapy: in vivo measurements from the phase I trial EORTC 11961 using a gamma-ray telescope.

Purpose: Gamma-ray spectroscopic scans to measure boron concentrations in the irradiated volume were performed during treatment of 5 patients suffering from brain tumors with boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). In BNCT, the dose that is meant to be targeted primarily to the tumor is the dose coming from the reaction 10B(n,alpha)7Li, which is determined by the boron concentration in tissue and the thermal neutron fluence rate. The boron distribution throughout the head of the patient during the treatment is therefore of major interest.