ABSTRACT
An epithermal boron neutron capture therapy facility for treating brain gliomas is currently under construction at the 5 kW fast-flux reactor TAPIRO located at ENEA, Casaccia, near Rome. In this work, the sensitivity of the results to the boron concentrations in healthy tissue and tumour is investigated and the change in beam quality on modifying the moderator thickness (within design limits) is studied. The Monte Carlo codes MCNP and MCNPX were used together with the DSA in-house variance reduction patch. Both usual free beam parameters and the in-phantom treatment planning figures-of-merit have been calculated in a realistic anthropomorphic phantom ('ADAM').
Subject(s)
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy/methods , Brain Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Glioma/radiotherapy , Models, Biological , Radiometry/methods , Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted/methods , Boron Neutron Capture Therapy/instrumentation , Computer Simulation , Humans , Italy , Monte Carlo Method , Nuclear Reactors/instrumentation , Radiotherapy Dosage , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
An epithermal facility for treating patients with brain gliomas has been designed and is under construction at the fast reactor TAPIRO at ENEA Casaccia (Italy). The calculational design tools employed were the Monte Carlo codes MCNP/MCNPX together with the DSA in-house variance reduction patch. A realistic anthropomorphic phantom ("ADAM") was included to optimise dose profiles and in-phantom treatment-planning figures-of-merit. The adopted approach was to minimise the treatment time whilst maintaining a reasonable therapeutic ratio. It is shown that TAPIRO, in spite of its low power of 5 kW, is able to provide an epithermal beam that is of good quality and of sufficient intensity to allow a single beam patient irradiation, under conservative assumptions, of 50 min.
Subject(s)
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy/instrumentation , Brain Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Glioma/radiotherapy , Boron Neutron Capture Therapy/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Italy , Monte Carlo Method , Phantoms, Imaging , Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted/instrumentation , Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
A method is described for the 3D measurements of absorbed dose in a ferrous sulphate gel phantom, exposed in the thermal column of a nuclear reactor. The method, studied for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) purposes, allows absorbed dose imaging and profiling, with the separation of different contributions coming from different secondary radiations, generated from thermal neutrons. In fact, the biological effectiveness of the different radiations is different. Tests with conventional dosimeters were performed too.
