Absorbed Dose Distribution in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy for the Treatment of Brain Cancer

Περίληψη

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a promising re-emerging therapeutic approach for brain tumors, such as glioblastoma multiforme, where conventional treatments have limited efficacy. BNCT is based on neutron irradiation of tumors to selectively kill malignant cells that have accumulated boron compounds with high LET particles produced from the thermal neutron absorption reaction in ¹⁰B. Two sets of simulations were performed using the MCNP6.1 code. The first involves the study of the dose components as a function of depth in a cylindrical head phantom consisting of water. The second one deals with the estimation of macroscopic dosimetric quantities to the critical structures in the voxelized Zubal anthropomorphic head/neck phantom. Simulations were performed for different neutron energy spectra, beam radii, as well as boron concentrations in the tumor and the surrounding healthy tissues. The findings contribute to the optimized irradiation of the target in BNCT, while sparing of the patient’s surrounding healthy tissues.