Radiation Oncology/Neutrons

Neutron Therapy

By Disease Site

 * General Head & Neck
 * Salivary Glands

Overview

 * Initial use of neutrons for clinical treatment occurred 1936-1943, but resulted in significant late effects
 * By 1960's, radiobiology of neutrons was better understood, and a cyclotron was constructed at the Hammersmith Hospital in London. In USA, physics-lab based devices were used for initial pilot trials.
 * In 1984, University of Washington commissioned a high-energy neutron generator for clinical beam delivery, with NCI funding
 * Neutrons can be delivered via several modalities
 * External beam neutron therapy
 * Boron-neutron capture therapy (BNCT)
 * Neutron brachytherapy via Californium-252
 * Most clinical trials were inconclusive, and enthusiasm about neutrons as a treatment modality waned

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT)

 *  FBPA (4-borono-2-(18) F-fluoro-phenylalanin) PET imaging 
 * Kohei Hanaoka et al. EJNMMI Res. 2014. FBPA PET in boron neutron capture therapy for cancer: prediction of (10)B concentration in the tumor and normal tissue in a rat xenograft model ( 25621196)
 * L Menichetti et al. Appl Radiat Isot. 2009 Jul. Positron emission tomography and [18F]BPA: a perspective application to assess tumour extraction of boron in BNCT ( 19410471)
 *  Accelerator-Based BNCT (AB-BNCT) vs. Reactor-Based BNCT (RB-BNCT) 
 * Minoru Suzuki et al. Radiother Oncol. 2009 Jul. Impact of accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy (AB-BNCT) on the treatment of multiple liver tumors and malignant pleural mesothelioma ( 19329206)
 *  Tsing Hua open-pool reactor (THOR) 
 * C J Tung et al. Appl Radiat Isot. 2004 Nov. Characteristics of the new THOR epithermal neutron beam for BNCT ( 15308158)
 * Ling-Wei Wang et al. Cancer Commun (Lond). 2018. Clinical trials for treating recurrent head and neck cancer with boron neutron capture therapy using the Tsing-Hua Open Pool Reactor ( 29914577)
 *  Proton Accelerator based Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (A-BNCT) facility in Korea 
 * Eunjoong Lee et al. Appl Radiat Isot. 2018 Dec. Radiation safety analysis for the A-BNCT facility in Korea ( 30273764)
 *  Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) in Finland 
 * Sauli Savolainen et al. Phys Med. 2013 May. Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) in Finland: technological and physical prospects after 20 years of experiences ( 22613369)
 *  Treatment Planning System 
 * Tzung-Yi Lin et al. Development and verification of THORplan--a BNCT treatment planning system for THOR. Appl Radiat Isot. 2011 Dec;69(12):1878-81. ( 21497101)
 * Naonori Hu et al. Evaluation of a treatment planning system developed for clinical boron neutron capture therapy and validation against an independent Monte Carlo dose calculation system. Radiat Oncol. 2021 Dec 24;16(1):243. ( 34952608)