Prompt gamma and neutron detection in BNCT utilizing a CdTe detector.

In this work, a novel sensor technology based on CdTe detectors was tested for prompt gamma and neutron detection using boronated targets in (epi)thermal neutron beam at FiR1 research reactor in Espoo, Finland. Dedicated neutron filter structures were omitted to enable simultaneous measurement of both gamma and neutron radiation at low reactor power (2.5 kW).

Characterization of a double-sided silicon strip detector autoradiography system.

Purpose: The most commonly used technology currently used for autoradiography is storage phosphor screens, which has many benefits such as a large field of view but lacks particle-counting detection of the time and energy of each detected radionuclide decay. A number of alternative designs, using either solid state or scintillator detectors, have been developed to address these issues. The aim of this study is to characterize the imaging performance of one such instrument, a double-sided silicon strip detector (DSSD) system for digital autoradiography.

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) in Finland: technological and physical prospects after 20 years of experiences.

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a binary radiotherapy method developed to treat patients with certain malignant tumours. To date, over 300 treatments have been carried out at the Finnish BNCT facility in various on-going and past clinical trials. In this technical review, we discuss our research work in the field of medical physics to form the groundwork for the Finnish BNCT patient treatments, as well as the possibilities to further develop and optimize the method in the future.

Accuracy of the electron transport in mcnp5 and its suitability for ionization chamber response simulations: A comparison with the egsnrc and penelope codes.

Purpose: In this work, accuracy of the mcnp5 code in the electron transport calculations and its suitability for ionization chamber (IC) response simulations in photon beams are studied in comparison to egsnrc and penelope codes.

Methods: The electron transport is studied by comparing the depth dose distributions in a water phantom subdivided into thin layers using incident energies (0.05, 0.

Boron neutron capture therapy in the treatment of locally recurred head-and-neck cancer: final analysis of a phase I/II trial.

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy and safety of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) in the treatment of inoperable head-and-neck cancers that recur locally after conventional photon radiation therapy.

Methods And Materials: In this prospective, single-center Phase I/II study, 30 patients with inoperable, locally recurred head-and-neck cancer (29 carcinomas and 1 sarcoma) were treated with BNCT. Prior treatments consisted of surgery and conventionally fractionated photon irradiation to a cumulative dose of 50 to 98 Gy administered with or without concomitant chemotherapy.

L-boronophenylalanine-mediated boron neutron capture therapy for malignant glioma progressing after external beam radiation therapy: a Phase I study.

Purpose: To investigate the safety of boronophenylalanine-mediated boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) in the treatment of malignant gliomas that progress after surgery and conventional external beam radiation therapy.

Methods And Materials: Adult patients who had histologically confirmed malignant glioma that had progressed after surgery and external beam radiotherapy were eligible for this Phase I study, provided that >6 months had elapsed from the last date of radiation therapy. The first 10 patients received a fixed dose, 290 mg/kg, of L-boronophenylalanine-fructose (L-BPA-F) as a 2-hour infusion before neutron irradiation, and the remaining patients were treated with escalating doses of L-BPA-F, either 350 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg, or 450 mg/kg, using 3 patients on each dose level.

Validation of dose planning calculations for boron neutron capture therapy using cylindrical and anthropomorphic phantoms.

In this paper, the accuracy of dose planning calculations for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) of brain and head and neck cancer was studied at the FiR 1 epithermal neutron beam. A cylindrical water phantom and an anthropomorphic head phantom were applied with two beam aperture-to-surface distances (ASD). The calculations using the simulation environment for radiation application (SERA) treatment planning system were compared to neutron activation measurements with Au and Mn foils, photon dose measurements with an ionization chamber and the reference simulations with the MCNP5 code.

Boron neutron capture therapy in the treatment of locally recurred head and neck cancer.

Purpose: Head and neck carcinomas that recur locally after conventional irradiation pose a difficult therapeutic problem. We evaluated safety and efficacy of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) in the treatment of such cancers.

Methods And Materials: Twelve patients with inoperable, recurred, locally advanced (rT3, rT4, or rN2) head and neck cancer were treated with BNCT in a prospective, single-center Phase I-II study.

MAGIC polymer gel for dosimetric verification in boron neutron capture therapy.

Radiation sensitive polymer gels are among the most promising three-dimensional dose verification tools developed to date. Polymer gel dosimeter known by the acronym MAGIC has been tested for evaluation of its use in boron neutron capture (BNCT) dosimetry. We irradiated a large (diameter 10 cm, length 20 cm) cylindrical gel phantom in the epithermal neutron beam of the Finnish BNCT facility at the FiR 1 nuclear reactor.

A toolkit for epithermal neutron beam characterisation in BNCT.

Methods for dosimetry of epithermal neutron beams used in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) have been developed and utilised within the Finnish BNCT project as well as within a European project for a code of practise for the dosimetry of BNCT. One outcome has been a travelling toolkit for BNCT dosimetry. It consists of activation detectors and ionisation chambers.

A dosimetric study on the use of bolus materials for treatment of superficial tumors with BNCT.

For treatment of superficially located tumors, such as head and neck cancers that invade the skin, the tumor dose may remain low on the skin when such tumors are treated with epithermal neutrons in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). The goal of this study was to examine the effects of bolus material for BNCT of superficial tumors, to verify the calculated (55)Mn(n, gamma) and the (197)Au(n, gamma) activation reaction rates and the neutron and the gamma doses in a phantom irradiated with a bolus, to measure the neutron activation of the bolus materials after irradiation, and according to depth dose distribution, to estimate when it is advantageous to use a bolus in BNCT. The present data show that both paraffin and water gel can be used as a bolus material for BNCT.

Undifferentiated sinonasal carcinoma may respond to single-fraction boron neutron capture therapy.

A large, rapidly progressing, unresectable undifferentiated sinonasal head and neck carcinoma regressed rapidly following single fraction boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). The main toxicity consisted of mucositis lasting for a few days. The quality of life improved and was excellent until tumour recurrence 6 months after the date of BNCT.

Boron neutron capture therapy of brain tumors: clinical trials at the finnish facility using boronophenylalanine.

Two clinical trials are currently running at the Finnish dedicated boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) facility. Between May 1999 and December 2001, 18 patients with supratentorial glioblastoma were treated with boronophenylalanine (BPA)-based BNCT within a context of a prospective clinical trial (protocol P-01). All patients underwent prior surgery, but none had received conventional radiotherapy or cancer chemotherapy before BNCT.

Dose planning with comparison to in vivo dosimetry for epithermal neutron irradiation of the dog brain.

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is an experimental type of radiotherapy, presently being used to treat glioblastoma and melanoma. To improve patient safety and to determine the radiobiological characteristics of the epithermal neutron beam of Finnish BNCT facility (FiR 1) dose-response studies were carried on the brain of dogs before starting the clinical trials. A dose planning procedure was developed and uncertainties of the epithermal neutron-induced doses were estimated.