Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a novel method of cancer therapy using neutron beams.
In the conventional radiotherapy, cancer cells are irradiated by the X ray, which is a kind of low Linear-Energy-Transfer radiation. In BNCT, taking advantage of the tendency of Boron to accumulate around cancer cells, pharmaceuticals of which 10B concentration are increased are administered in advance, and then they are irradiated by neutrons to produce α particles and 7Li ions for the bombardment of cancer cells.
As these α particles and 7Li ions have about the same ranges as the size of body cells, BNCT therapy can selectively and effectively destroy cancer cells without damaging normal cells around the diseased ones.
Previously, nuclear reactors were used to produce neutron beams for BNCT. Nowadays, the advance in particle accelerator technology enables us to construct compact Proton accelerators which can be housed into hospitals, and therefore, in BNCT, accelerator-driven neutron beams are used as the primary neutron source in which these Proton accelerators are utilized with some kinds of neutron-production targets.
For patients, radiation safety and the effectiveness of the radiological treatment are of primary importance, and therefore it is highly required to control and assure the quality (QC/QA) of neutron sources.
At the same time, for BNCT operators, it is equally important to reduce the burden of their QC/QA tasks.
For this, we are developing a new type of neutron-counting devices which has high accuracy and ease of use for BNCT neutrons. It comprises a scintillation tip attached to an optical fiber, and can be used for real-time monitoring of neutrons.
