Normalisation of prescribed dose in BNCT.

Normalisation of prescribed dose in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is needed to facilitate combining clinical data from different centres in the world to help expedite development of the modality. The approach being pursued within the BNCT community is based upon improving precision in the measurement and specification of absorbed dose. Beam characterisations using a common method are complete as are comparative dosimetry measurements between clinical centres in Europe and the USA. Results from treatment planning systems at these centres have been compared with measurements performed by MIT, and the scale factors determined are being confirmed with independent tests using measurements in an ellipsoidal water phantom. Dose normalisations have successfully been completed and applied to retrospectively analyse treatment plans from Brookhaven National Laboratory (1994-99) so that reported doses are consistently expressed with the trials performed during 1994-2003 at Harvard-MIT. Dose response relationships for adverse events and other endpoints can now be more accurately established.