Development of a Neutron Energy-Biased in-Air Figure-of-Merit for Predicting in-Phantom BNCT Neutron Beam Characteristics

A comparison between a TESQ accelerator and a reactor as a neutron sources for BNCT

“…4, is obtained at the output port of the TESQ-BSA with a 34 cm BSA by an MCNP simulation with the neutron source implemented from LiYield program calculations [13] as was mentioned above. As reported in a previous study, an ideal AB-BNCT spectrum for deep seated tumor treatment is a narrow neutron energy distribution centered at an epithermal energy of about 10 keV [18]. Fig.…”

A parameter study to determine the optimal source neutron energy in boron neutron capture therapy of brain tumours

“…Source neutrons with an energy of 1 MeV and below, give negligible dose contributors due to threshold reactions with other nuclides present in the tissues. As described in Bleuel et al (1998), a real BNCT neutron source cannot be composed 'straightaway' by regarding a linear subset of the calculated mono-energetic and mono-directional results. This is due to the possibility that the position of the maximum dose in the tissue is shifted due to different components in the spectrum.…”

“…In the BNCT literature, when dealing with the optimal source neutron energies, the results are always based on one set of RBE factors, according to the authors (e.g. Yanch et al 1991, Bisceglie et al 2000, Bleuel et al 1998. As such the question arises as to what is actually the influence of the RBE factors on the optimal source neutron energy.…”