Investigation on treatment of superficial tumors with Tehran research reactor BNCT neutron beam

In Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), the patient is injected with a tumor localizing drug containing a boron-10 compound. Then the tumor region is irradiated with an appropriate neutron beam. Lethal dose deposited by 10B (n, α)7Li reaction products cause destruction of the tumor cell. Recently, a lot of efforts have been done for the use of Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) for BNCT and an appropriate neutron beam has been produced. In this research in order to investigate on use of this beam for treatment of superficial tumors, different absorbed dose components have been measured in a head phantom using activation techniques and TLD-700 dosimeters. Therapeutic gain and other therapeutic parameters have been obtained. The maximum therapeutic gain is 4/5 which is at the depth of 1cm from the phantom surface. The time required for destruction of the tumor at this depth is about 110min by receiving 20 Gy-eq. The results show that the produced thermal BNCT beam is feasible for use in treatment of superficial tumors. For this purpose, basic works need to be done in reactor. Now, this beam is usable for biological studies and animal trials.