Feasibility of hepatic metastases treatment by BNCT in a thermal neutron field

In 1988 we proposed an innovative methodology to treat the human liver disseminated by diffused metastases. The essential characteristic of the project was the introduction of the Boron Neutron Capture Therapy within the autograft procedure of the cancerous liver. Its intrinsic nature makes the method suitable for an efficacious therapy also in the case of cancerous metastases disseminated to both lobes or in inaccessible parts of the liver. The neutron irradiation of the explanted liver offers the significant advantage of preserving the remaining organs from radiation damage and is the exclusive feature of the method we propose. Nevertheless the entire liver must be exposed to the thermal neutron field, then no collimator may be useful to preserve the normal hepatic tissues, as happens in BNCT applications performed up to now. For this reason such a treatment can be safe and advantageous just in the case we succeed to give differentiate radiation doses between normal and cancerous doses during the organ irradiation. A fully positive success of our proposal could open the way to the general application of this particular radiotherapy to the explanted organs presenting diffused tumours not treatable by the traditional surgery. (orig.)