Design of a Rotating Facility for Extracorporal Treatment of an Explanted Liver with Disseminated Metastases by Boron Neutron Capture Therapy with an Epithermal Neutron Beam

Abstract

In 2001, at the TRIGA reactor of the University of Pavia (Italy), a patient suffering from diffuse liver metastases from an adenocarcinoma of the sigmoid was successfully treated by boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). The procedure involved boron infusion prior to hepatectomy, irradiation of the explanted liver at the thermal column of the reactor, and subsequent reimplantation. A complete response was observed. This encouraging outcome stimulated the Essen/Petten BNCT group to investigate whether such an extracorporal irradiation could be performed at the BNCT irradiation facility at the HFR Petten (The Netherlands), which has very different irradiation characteristics than the Pavia facility. A computational study has been carried out. A rotating PMMA container with a liver, surrounded by PMMA and graphite, is simulated using the Monte Carlo code MCNP. Due to the rotation and neutron moderation of the PMMA container, the initial epithermal neutron beam provides a nearly homogeneous thermal neutron field in the liver. The main conditions for treatment as reported from the Pavia experiment, i.e. a thermal neutron fluence of 4 x 10(12) +/- 20% cm(-2), can be closely met at the HFR in an acceptable time, which, depending on the defined conditions, is between 140 and 180 min.

Chromosomal aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes exposed to a mixed beam of low energy neutrons and gamma radiation

“…A suitable source of neutrons was the HB11 beam of the high flux reactor (HFR) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Energy and Transport, Petten, Netherlands. The beam was constructed to treat patients by boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) (Moss et al 1997, Nievaart et al 2006, Sauerwein et al 1999 and is very well characterised (Rassow et al 2001, Liu et al 2009. By means of a well-defined source term the energies and dose rates of the different beam components can be calculated using the Monte Carlo code MCNPX (Monte Carlo N-particle extended).…”

Selectively induced death of macrophages in the synovial lining of murine knee joints using10B-liposomes and boron neutron capture synovectomy

“…The epithermal neutron beam at the High Flux Reactor (HFR), Petten, previously used for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) studies with tumours (Moss 2005, Nievaart et al 2006) was used in the present irradiation studies. The mice were irradiated in a custom-built facility for 20 min.…”

“Sequential” Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT): A Novel Approach to BNCT for the Treatment of Oral Cancer in the Hamster Cheek Pouch Model

“…Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a binary treatment modality that involves the selective accumulation of 10 B carriers in tumors followed by irradiation with a thermal or epithermal neutron beam. The minor abundance stable isotope of boron, 10 B, interacts with low-energy (thermal) neutrons to produce high-linear energy transfer (LET) a particles and 7 Li ions with high relative biological effectiveness (RBE). Their short range (,10 mm) would limit the damage to the cells containing 10 B (1,2).…”

“…Clinical trials of BNCT for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, melanoma and, more recently, head and neck tumors and liver metastases using boronophenylalanine (BPA) or sodium mercaptoundecahydrododecaborane (BSH) as the 10 B carriers have been performed or are under way in Argentina, Japan, the U.S. and Europe (e.g. [3][4][5][6][7][8]. To date, the clinical results have shown a possible, albeit inconclusive, therapeutic advantage for this technique.…”