Current status of BNCT and progress of computational dosimetry technologies for BNCT

Clinical trials for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) are being performed using research reactors as Japan Research Reactor-4 (JRR-4) in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). BNCT is a sort of a particle radiation therapy, the therapy is expected to cure intractable cancers such as malignant brain tumor. In current BNCT trials, epithermal neutron beam has been applied in order to deliver the curable dose into deeper region in the brain. The application of the epithermal neutron beam enabled to perform the clinical trials against many cancers such head neck cancer and lung cancer as well as brain tumor. It was necessary to develop several technologies for neutron irradiation and dose measurement and treatment planning in order to perform the clinical trials with the epithermal neutron beam. This report introduce summary of the current BNCT study and several technologies applied to the radiotherapy. (author)