A simulation study on beam property of 124Sb-Be isotope-based neutron for BNCT.

The 9Be(γ,n) neutrons with the energies at 21-24 keV generated by 1.691 MeV photons from 124Sb was investigated as a source of epithermal neutrons for BNCT, using PHITS code. A beam shaping assembly composed of 13 mm thick Be target, a gamma ray shield made of 30 cm thick Bi, and a reflector of 30 cm thick Pb satisfied the beam requirements of IAEA-TECDOC-1223. The needed 124Sb activity was estimated in the order of 1016-1017 Bq. Feasibility of BNCT using 124Sb-Be neutrons would be influenced by the capability of periodic supply of short-lived 124Sb (half-life: 60 days) with such high activity.

An in vitro verification of strength estimation for moving an 125I source during implantation in brachytherapy.

This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a method for estimating the strength of a moving brachytherapy source during implantation in a patient. Experiments were performed under the same conditions as in the actual treatment, except for one point that the source was not implanted into a patient. The brachytherapy source selected for this study was 125I with an air kerma strength of 0.332 U (µGym2h-1), and the detector used was a plastic scintillator with dimensions of 10 cm × 5 cm × 5 cm. A calibration factor to convert the counting rate of the detector to the source strength was measured and then the accuracy of the proposed method was investigated for a manually driven source. The accuracy was found to be under 10% when the shielding effect of additional needles for implantation at other positions was corrected, and about 30% when the shielding was not corrected. Even without shielding correction, the proposed method can detect dead/dropped source, implantation of a source with the wrong strength, and a mistake in the number of the sources implanted. Furthermore, when the correction was applied, the achieved accuracy came close to within 7% required to find the Oncoseed 6711 (125I seed with unintended strength among the commercially supplied values of 0.392, 0.462 and 0.533 U).

Computational investigation of suitable polymer gel composition for the QA of the beam components of a BNCT irradiation field.

This study investigated the optimum composition of the MAGAT polymer gel which is to be used in the quality assurance measurement of the thermal neutron, fast neutron and gamma ray components in the irradiation field used for boron neutron capture therapy at the Kyoto University Reactor. Simulations using the PHITS code showed that when combined with the gel, 6Li concentrations of 0, 10 and 100ppm were found to be potentially usable.

Strength estimation of a moving 125Iodine source during implantation in brachytherapy: application to linked sources.

This study sought to demonstrate the feasibility of estimating the source strength during implantation in brachytherapy. The requirement for measuring the strengths of the linked sources was investigated. The utilized sources were (125)I with air kerma strengths of 8.38-8.63 U (µGy m(2) h(-1)). Measurements were performed with a plastic scintillator (80 mm × 50 mm × 20 mm in thickness). For a source-to-source distance of 10.5 mm and at source speeds of up to 200 mm s(-1), a counting time of 10 ms and a detector-to-needle distance of 5 mm were found to be the appropriate measurement conditions. The combined standard uncertainty (CSU) with the coverage factor of 1 (k = 1) was ∼15% when using a grid to decrease the interference by the neighboring sources. Without the grid, the CSU (k = 1) was ∼5%, and an 8% overestimation due to the neighboring sources was found to potentially cause additional uncertainty. In order to improve the accuracy in estimating source strength, it is recommended that the measurment conditions should be optimized by considering the tradeoff between the overestimation due to the neighboring sources and the intensity of the measured value, which influences the random error.

Near-threshold (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be neutrons on the practical conditions using thick Li-target and Gaussian proton energies for BNCT.

The near threshold (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be neutrons generated by incident proton energy having Gaussian distribution with mean energies from 1.85 to 1.95MeV, were studied as a practical neutron source for BNCT wherein an RFQ accelerator and a thick Li-target are used. Gaussian energy distributions with the standard deviation of 0, 10, 20 and 40keV for mean proton energies from 1.85 to 1.95MeV were surveyed in 0.01MeV increments. A thick liquid Li-target whose dimensions were established in our previous experiments (i.e., 1mm-thick with 50mm width and 50mm length) was considered in this study. The suitable incident proton energy and physical dimensions of Pb layer which serves as a gamma absorber and a Polyethylene layer which is used as a BDE were surveyed by means of the concepts of TPD. Dose distribution were calculated by using MCNP5. A proton beam with mean energy of 1.92MeV and a Gaussian energy distribution with a standard deviation of 20keV at a current of 10mA was selected from the viewpoint of irradiation time and practically achievable proton current. The suitable thicknesses of Pb gamma absorber was estimated to be about 3cm. The estimated thickness of the polyethylene BDE was about 24mm for an ideal proton current of 13mA, and was 18mm for a practical proton current of 10mA.

A new brain positron emission tomography scanner with semiconductor detectors for target volume delineation and radiotherapy treatment planning in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

PURPOSE: We compared two treatment planning methods for stereotactic boost for treating nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC): the use of conventional whole-body bismuth germanate (BGO) scintillator positron emission tomography (PET(CONV)WB) versus the new brain (BR) PET system using semiconductor detectors (PET(NEW)BR). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Twelve patients with NPC were enrolled in this study. [(18)F]Fluorodeoxyglucose-PET images were acquired using both the PET(NEW)BR and the PET(CONV)WB system on the same day. Computed tomography (CT) and two PET data sets were transferred to a treatment planning system, and the PET(CONV)WB and PET(NEW)BR images were coregistered with the same set of CT images. Window width and level values for all PET images were fixed at 3000 and 300, respectively. The gross tumor volume (GTV) was visually delineated on PET images by using either PET(CONV)WB (GTV(CONV)) images or PET(NEW)BR (GTV(NEW)) images. Assuming a stereotactic radiotherapy boost of 7 ports, the prescribed dose delivered to 95% of the planning target volume (PTV) was set to 2000 cGy in 4 fractions. RESULTS: The average absolute volume (±standard deviation [SD]) of GTV(NEW) was 15.7 ml (±9.9) ml, and that of GTV(CONV) was 34.0 (±20.5) ml. The average GTV(NEW) was significantly smaller than that of GTV(CONV) (p = 0.0006). There was no statistically significant difference between the maximum dose (p = 0.0585) and the mean dose (p = 0.2748) of PTV. The radiotherapy treatment plan based on the new gross tumor volume (PLAN(NEW)) significantly reduced maximum doses to the cerebrum and cerebellum (p = 0.0418) and to brain stem (p = 0.0041). CONCLUSION: Results of the present study suggest that the new brain PET system using semiconductor detectors can provide more accurate tumor delineation than the conventional whole-body BGO PET system and may be an important tool for functional and molecular radiotherapy treatment planning.

Detection of patient setup errors with a portal image - DRR registration software application.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a custom portal image - digitally reconstructed radiograph (DRR) registration software application. The software works by transforming the portal image into the coordinate space of the DRR image using three control points placed on each image by the user, and displaying the fused image. In order to test statistically that the software actually improves setup error estimation, an intra- and interobserver phantom study was performed. Portal images of anthropomorphic thoracic and pelvis phantoms with virtually placed irradiation fields at known setup errors were prepared. A group of five doctors was first asked to estimate the setup errors by examining the portal and DRR image side-by-side, not using the software. A second group of four technicians then estimated the same set of images using the registration software. These two groups of human subjects were then compared with an auto-registration feature of the software, which is based on the mutual information between the portal and DRR images. For the thoracic case, the average distance between the actual setup error and the estimated error was 4.3 ± 3.0 mm for doctors using the side-by-side method, 2.1 ± 2.4 mm for technicians using the registration method, and 0.8 ± 0.4mm for the automatic algorithm. For the pelvis case, the average distance between the actual setup error and estimated error was 2.0 ± 0.5 mm for the doctors using the side-by-side method, 2.5 ± 0.4 mm for technicians using the registration method, and 2.0 ± 1.0 mm for the automatic algorithm. The ability of humans to estimate offset values improved statistically using our software for the chest phantom that we tested. Setup error estimation was further improved using our automatic error estimation algorithm. Estimations were not statistically different for the pelvis case. Consistency improved using the software for both the chest and pelvis phantoms. We also tested the automatic algorithm with a database of over 5,000 clinical cases from our hospital. The algorithm performed well for head and breast but performed poorly for pelvis cases, probably due to lack of contrast in the megavoltage portal image. The software incorporates an original algorithm to fuse portal and DRR images, which we describe in detail. The offset optimization algorithm used in the automatic mode of operation is also unique, and may be useful if the contrast of the portal images can be improved.

A dosimetry study of the Oncoseed 6711 using glass rod dosimeters and EGS5 Monte Carlo code in a geometry lacking radiation equilibrium scatter conditions.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop a dose calculation method which is applicable to the interseed attenuation and the geometry lacking the equilibrium radiation scatter conditions in brachytherapy. METHODS: The dose obtained from measurement with a radiophotoluminescent glass rod dosimeter (GRD) was compared to the dose calculated with the Monte Carlo (MC) code "EGS5," using the 125I source structure detailed in by Kennedy et al. The GRDs were irradiated with 125I Oncoseed 6711 in a human head phantom. The phantom was a cylinder made of 2 mm thick PMMA with a diameter of 18 cm and length of 16 cm. Some of the GRD positions were so close to the phantom surface that the backscatter margin was less than 5 cm, insufficient for photons. RESULTS: The EGS5 simulations were found to reproduce the relative dose distributions as measured with the GRDs to within 25% uncertainty in the geometry lacking the equilibrium radiation scatter conditions. The absolute value of the GRD measurement agreed with the American Association of Physicist in Medicine Task Group No 43 Updated Protocol (AAPM-TG43U1) formalism to within 3% of the reference point (r = 1 cm, theta = 90 degrees), where the TG43U1 is especially reliable because of the abundant data accumulation in composing the formalism. The factor to normalize the measured or calculated dose to the TG43U1 estimate at the reference point was evaluated to be 0.97 for the GRD measurement and 1.8 for the MC calculation, which uses the integration of the apparent activity with the time as the amount of disintegration during the irradiation. Also, F(r,theta) and g(r) estimated by this calculation method were consistent with those proposed in the TG43U1. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this investigation support the validity of both the MC calculation method and GRD measurement in this study as well as the TG-43U1 formalism. Also, this calculation is applicable to interseed attenuation and the geometry lacking the equilibrium radiation scatter.

Optimization of fluoroscopy parameters using pattern matching prediction in the real-time tumor-tracking radiotherapy system.

In the real-time tumor-tracking radiotherapy system, fluoroscopy is used to determine the real-time position of internal fiducial markers. The pattern recognition score (PRS) ranging from 0 to 100 is computed by a template pattern matching technique in order to determine the marker position on the fluoroscopic image. The PRS depends on the quality of the fluoroscopic image. However, the fluoroscopy parameters such as tube voltage, current and exposure duration are selected manually and empirically in the clinical situation. This may result in an unnecessary imaging dose from the fluoroscopy or loss of the marker because of too much or insufficient x-ray exposure. In this study, a novel optimization method is proposed in order to minimize the fluoroscopic dose while keeping the image quality usable for marker tracking. The PRS can be predicted in a region where the marker appears to move in the fluoroscopic image by the proposed method. The predicted PRS can be utilized to judge whether the marker can be tracked with accuracy. In this paper, experiments were performed to show the feasibility of the PRS prediction method under various conditions. The predicted PRS showed good agreement with the measured PRS. The root mean square error between the predicted PRS and the measured PRS was within 1.44. An experiment using a motion controller and an anthropomorphic chest phantom was also performed in order to imitate a clinical fluoroscopy situation. The result shows that the proposed prediction method is expected to be applicable in a real clinical situation.

Accurate analysis of the change in volume, location, and shape of metastatic cervical lymph nodes during radiotherapy.

PURPOSE: To establish a method for the accurate acquisition and analysis of the variations in tumor volume, location, and three-dimensional (3D) shape of tumors during radiotherapy in the era of image-guided radiotherapy. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Finite element models of lymph nodes were developed based on computed tomography (CT) images taken before the start of treatment and every week during the treatment period. A surface geometry map with a volumetric scale was adopted and used for the analysis. Six metastatic cervical lymph nodes, 3.5 to 55.1 cm(3) before treatment, in 6 patients with head and neck carcinomas were analyzed in this study. Three fiducial markers implanted in mouthpieces were used for the fusion of CT images. Changes in the location of the lymph nodes were measured on the basis of these fiducial markers. RESULTS: The surface geometry maps showed convex regions in red and concave regions in blue to ensure that the characteristics of the 3D tumor geometries are simply understood visually. After the irradiation of 66 to 70 Gy in 2 Gy daily doses, the patterns of the colors had not changed significantly, and the maps before and during treatment were strongly correlated (average correlation coefficient was 0.808), suggesting that the tumors shrank uniformly, maintaining the original characteristics of the shapes in all 6 patients. The movement of the gravitational center of the lymph nodes during the treatment period was everywhere less than ±5 mm except in 1 patient, in whom the change reached nearly 10 mm. CONCLUSIONS: The surface geometry map was useful for an accurate evaluation of the changes in volume and 3D shapes of metastatic lymph nodes. The fusion of the initial and follow-up CT images based on fiducial markers enabled an analysis of changes in the location of the targets. Metastatic cervical lymph nodes in patients were suggested to decrease in size without significant changes in the 3D shape during radiotherapy. The movements of the gravitational center of the lymph nodes were almost all less than ±5 mm.

A feasibility study of a molecular-based patient setup verification method using a parallel-plane PET system.

A feasibility study of a novel PET-based molecular image guided radiation therapy (m-IGRT) system was conducted by comparing PET-based digitally reconstructed planar image (PDRI) registration with radiographic registration. We selected a pair of opposing parallel-plane PET systems for the practical implementation of this system. Planar images along the in-plane and cross-plane directions were reconstructed from the parallel-plane PET data. The in-plane and cross-plane FWHM of the profile of 2 mm diameter sources was approximately 1.8 and 8.1 mm, respectively. Therefore, only the reconstructed in-plane image from the parallel-plane PET data was used in the PDRI registration. In the image registration, five different sizes of (18)F cylindrical sources (diameter: 8, 12, 16, 24, 32 mm) were used to determine setup errors. The data acquisition times were 1, 3 and 5 min. Image registration was performed by five observers to determine the setup errors from PDRI registration and radiographic registration. The majority of the mean registration errors obtained from the PDRI registration were not significantly different from those obtained from the radiographic registration. Acquisition time did not appear to result in significant differences in the mean registration error. The mean registration error for the PDRI registration was found to be 0.93 ± 0.33 mm. This is not statistically different from the radiographic registration which had a mean registration error of 0.92 ± 0.27 mm. Our results suggest that m-IGRT image registration using PET-based reconstructed planar images along the in-plane direction is feasible for clinical use if PDRI registration is performed at two orthogonal gantry angles.

Radiation pneumonitis after hypofractionated radiotherapy: evaluation of the LQ(L) model and different dose parameters.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the linear quadratic (LQ) model for hypofractionated radiotherapy within the context of predicting radiation pneumonitis (RP) and to investigate the effect if a linear (L) model in the high region (LQL model) is used. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The radiation doses used for 128 patients treated with hypofractionated radiotherapy were converted to the equivalent doses given in fractions of 2 Gy for a range of alpha/beta ratios (1 Gy to infinity) according to the LQ(L) model. For the LQL model, different cut-off values between the LQ model and the linear component were used. The Lyman model parameters were fitted to the events of RP grade 2 or higher to derive the normal tissue complication probability (NTCP). The lung dose was calculated as the mean lung dose and the percentage of lung volume (V) receiving doses higher than a threshold dose of xGy (V(x)). RESULTS: The best NTCP fit was found if the mean lung dose, or V(x), was calculated with an alpha/beta ratio of 3 Gy. The NTCP fit of other alpha/beta ratios and the LQL model were worse but within the 95% confidence interval of the NTCP fit of the LQ model with an alpha/beta ratio of 3 Gy. The V(50) NTCP fit was better than the NTCP fit of lower threshold doses. CONCLUSIONS: For high fraction doses, the LQ model with an alpha/beta ratio of 3 Gy was the best method for converting the physical lung dose to predict RP.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the stereotactic body frame in reducing respiratory intrafractional organ motion using the real-time tumor-tracking radiotherapy system.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of the stereotactic body frame (SBF), with or without a diaphragm press or a breathing cycle monitoring device (Abches), in controlling the range of lung tumor motion, by tracking the real-time position of fiducial markers. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The trajectories of gold markers in the lung were tracked with the real-time tumor-tracking radiotherapy system. The SBF was used for patient immobilization and the diaphragm press and Abches were used to actively control breathing and for self-controlled respiration, respectively. Tracking was performed in five setups, with and without immobilization and respiration control. The results were evaluated using the effective range, which was defined as the range that includes 95% of all the recorded marker positions in each setup. RESULTS: The SBF, with or without a diaphragm press or Abches, did not yield effective ranges of marker motion which were significantly different from setups that did not use these materials. The differences in the effective marker ranges in the upper lobes for all the patient setups were less than 1mm. Larger effective ranges were obtained for the markers in the middle or lower lobes. CONCLUSION: The effectiveness of controlling respiratory-induced organ motion by using the SBF+diaphragm press or SBF + Abches patient setups were highly dependent on the individual patient reaction to the use of these materials and the location of the markers. They may be considered for lung tumors in the lower lobes, but are not necessary for tumors in the upper lobes.

Characteristics of proton beam scanning dependent on Li target thickness from the viewpoint of heat removal and material strength for accelerator-based BNCT.

This study demonstrates the characterization of proton spot scanning on a Li target assembly for accelerator-based BNCT from the viewpoint of heat removal and material strength. These characteristics are investigated as to their dependence on the Li target thickness, considering that the Cu backing plate has more suitable heat removal properties than Li. Two situations are considered in this paper, i.e. the cyclic operation of the spot scanning, and a stalled spot scanning cycle where the proton beam stays focused on a single position on the Li target. It was found that the maximum of the Li temperature and the strain of the Cu backing increase as the cycle period increases. A cycle period less than 120 ms (over 8.3 Hz of frequency) enables the Li temperature to be kept below 150 degrees C and a cycle of less than 115 ms (8.7 Hz) keeps the Cu strain below the critical value for a 230 microm thick Li target, though the values are evaluated conservatively. Against expectation, the Li temperature and Cu strain are larger for a 100 microm thick target than for a 230 microm target. The required cycle period in this case is 23 ms (43 Hz) for maintaining a reasonable Li temperature and 9 ms (110 Hz) to prevent Cu fatigue fracture. For a stall in the spot scanning cycle, the Cu temperature increases as the beam shutdown time increases. The time for Cu to reach its melting point is estimated to be 4.2 ms at the surface, 20 ms at 1mm depth, for both of 100 and 230 microm thick targets. At least 34 ms is estimated to be enough to make a hole on Cu backing plate. A beam shutdown mechanism with a response time of about 20 ms is therefore required.

Distortion of neutron field during mice irradiation at Kinki University reactor UTR-KINKI.

A dosimetry study of mice irradiation at the Kinki University nuclear reactor (UTR-KINKI) has been carried out. Neutron and gamma-ray doses at the irradiation port in the presence of 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 mice were measured using the paired chamber method. The results show that neutron dose is reduced with increasing numbers of mice. In the six-mice irradiation condition, neutron dose is about 15% smaller compared to a case where no mice were placed in the irradiation port. To investigate the distortion of the neutron spectrum during mice irradiation at UTR-KINKI, a Monte Carlo calculation using the MCNP4C code has been carried out. The measured variation in dose with respect to the total mouse mass was closely reproduced by the calculation results for neutron and gamma-ray dose. Distortion of the neutron spectrum was observed to occur between 1 keV and 1 MeV.

Variations in lithium target thickness and proton energy stability for the near-threshold 7Li(p,n)7Be accelerator-based BNCT.

The usable range of thickness for the solid lithium target in the accelerator-based neutron production for BNCT via the near-threshold (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction was investigated. While the feasibility of using a (7)Li-target with thickness equal to that which is required to slow down a mono-energetic 1.900 MeV incident proton to the 1.881 MeV threshold of the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction (i.e., t(min) = 2.33 microm) has already been demonstrated, dosimetric properties of neutron fields from targets greater than t(min) were assessed as thicker targets would last longer and offer more stable neutron production. Additionally, the characteristics of neutron fields generated by (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be for Gaussian incident protons with mean energy of 1.900 MeV were evaluated at a (7)Li-target thickness t(min). The main evaluation index applied in this study was the treatable protocol depth (TPD) which corresponds to the depth in an irradiated medium that satisfies the requirements of the adapted dose protocol. A maximum TPD (TPD(max)) was obtained for each irradiation condition from the relationship between the TPD and the thickness of boron dose enhancer (BDE) used. For a mono-energetic 1.900 MeV proton beam, the deepest TPD(max) of 3.88 cm was attained at the (7)Li-target thickness of t(min) and a polyethylene BDE of 1.10 cm. When the intended TPD for a BNCT clinical treatment is shallower than the deepest TPD(max), the usable (7)Li-target thickness would be between t(min) and an upper limit t(upper) whose value depends on the BDE thickness used. In terms of the effect of stability of the incident proton energy, Gaussian incident proton energies stable to within +/-10 keV of 1.900 MeV were found to be feasible for the neutron production via the near-threshold (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction for BNCT provided that a suitable BDE is used.

TPD-based evaluation of near threshold mono-energetic proton energies for the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be production of neutrons for BNCT.

An evaluation of mono-energetic proton energies ranging from 1.885 MeV to 1.920 MeV was carried out to determine the viability of these near threshold energies in producing neutrons for BNCT via the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction. Neutron fields generated at these proton energies were assessed using the treatable protocol depth (TPD) and the maximum TPD (TPD(max)) as evaluation indices. The heavy charged particle (HCP) dose rate to tumour was likewise applied as a figure of merit in order to account for irradiation time and required proton current. Incident proton energies closer to the reaction threshold generated deeper TPDs compared to higher energy protons when no boron dose enhancers (BDE) were placed in the irradiation field. Introducing a BDE resulted in improved TPDs for high proton energies but their achievable TPD(max) were comparatively lower than that obtained for lower proton energies. In terms of the HCP dose rate to tumour, higher proton energies generated neutron fields that yielded higher dose rates both at TPD(max) and at fixed depths of comparison. This infers that higher currents are required to deliver the prescribed treatment dose to tumours for proton beams with energies closer to the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction threshold and more achievable proton currents of around 10 mA or less for proton energies from 1.900 MeV and above. The dependence on incident proton energy of the TPD, TPD(max) and the HCP dose rate to tumour with respect to the (10)B concentration in tumour and healthy tissues were also clarified in this study. Increasing the (10)B concentration in tumour while maintaining a constant T/N ratio resulted in deeper TPD(max) where a greater change in TPD(max) was obtained for proton energies closer to the (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be reaction threshold. The HCP dose rates to tumour for all proton energies also went up, with the higher proton energies benefiting more from the increased (10)B concentration.

Characterization of moderator assembly dimension for accelerator boron neutron capture therapy of brain tumors using 7Li(p, n) neutrons at proton energy of 2.5 MeV.

The characteristics of moderator assembly dimension are investigated for the usage of 7Li(p,n) neutrons by 2.5 MeV protons in boron newtron capture therapy (BNCT) of brain tumors in the present study. The indexes checked are treatable protocol depth (TPD), which is the greatest depth of the region satisfying the dose requirements in BNCT protocol, proton current necessary to complete BNCT by 1 h irradiation, and the heat flux deposited in the Li target which should be removed. Assumed materials are D2O for moderator, and mixture of polyethylene and LiF with 50 wt % for collimator. Dose distributions have been computed with MCNP 4B and 4C codes. Consequently, realized TPD does not show a monotonical tendency for the Li target diameter. However, the necessary proton current and heat flux in the Li target decreases as the Li target diameter increases, while this trend reverses at around 10 cm of the Li target diameter for the necessary proton current in the condition of this study. As to the moderator diameter, TPD does not exhibit an apparent dependence. On the other hand, necessary proton current and heat flux decrease as the moderator diameter increases, and this tendency saturates at around 60 cm of the moderator diameter in this study. As to the collimator, increase in inner diameter is suitable from the viewpoint of increasing TPD and decreasing necessary proton current and heat flux, while these indexes do not show apparent difference for collimator inner diameters over 14 cm for the parameters treated here. The practical viewpoint in selecting the parameters of moderator assembly dimension is to increase TPD, within the technically possible condition of accelerated proton current and heat removal from the Li target. In this process, the values for which the resultant characteristics mentioned above saturate or reverse would be important factors.

Characteristics of boron-dose enhancer dependent on dose protocol and 10B concentration for BNCT using near-threshold 7Li(p,n)7Be direct neutrons.

The dependence of boron-dose enhancer (BDE) characteristics on dose protocol and 10B concentration was evaluated for BNCT using near-threshold 7Li(p,n)7Be direct neutrons. The treatable protocol depth (TPD) was utilized as an evaluation index. MCNP calculations were performed for near-threshold 7Li(p,n)7Be at a proton energy of 1.900 MeV and for a polyethylene BDE. The effect of dose protocol on BDE characteristics was reflected in terms of the optimum BDE thickness needed for maximum TPD which was found to be independent of the treatable dose but was observed to vary for different combinations of the tolerance doses for heavy charged particles and gamma rays. For the 10B concentration dependence, the TPD was increased by increasing the T/N ratio, i.e., the ratio of the 10B concentration in the tumour (10B(Tumour)) to that in the normal tissue (10B(Normal)), and by increasing 10B(Tumour) and 10B(Normal) at constant T/N ratio. It was found that the use of BDE becomes unnecessary from the viewpoint of increasing the TPD, when 10B(Tumour) is over a certain level which is decided by the conditions of the dose protocol.

Optimization parameters for BDE in BNCT using near threshold 7Li(p,n)7Be direct neutrons.

The dose contribution of (10)B(n,alpha)(7)Li reaction in BNCT using near threshold (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be direct neutrons can be increased through the use of materials referred to as boron-dose enhancers (BDE). In this paper, possible BDE optimization criteria were determined from the characteristics of candidate BDE materials namely (C(2)H(4))(n), (C(2)H(3)F)(n), (C(2)H(2)F(2))(n), (C(2)HF(3))(n), (C(2)D(4))(n), (C(2)F(4))(n), beryllium metal, graphite, D(2)O and (7)LiF. The treatable protocol depth (TPD) was used as the assessment index for evaluating the effect of these materials on the dose distribution in a medium undergoing BNCT using near threshold (7)Li(p,n)(7)Be direct neutrons. The maximum TPD (TPD(max)) did not exhibit an explicit dependence on material type as evidenced by its small range and arbitrary variations. The dependence of TPD on BDE thickness was influenced by the BDE material used as indicated by the sharply peaked TPD versus BDE thickness curves for materials with hydrogen compared to the broader curves obtained for those without hydrogen. The BDE thickness required to achieve TPD(max) (BDE(TPD(max))) were also found to be thinner for materials with hydrogen. The TPD(max), the dependence of TPD on BDE thickness, and the BDE(TPD(max)) were established as appropriate BDE optimization parameters. Based on these criteria and other practical considerations, the suitable choice as BDE among the candidate materials considered in this study for treatments involving tumors located at shallow depths would be (C(2)H(4))(n) while beryllium metal was judged as more appropriate for treatment of deep-seated tumors.