Photoneutron source for in-hospital BNCT treatment. Feasibility study

Some recent studies in Italy have focused on the possibility of exploiting high energy electron linear accelerators, normally used in gamma radiotherapy, as photo-neutrons source for in-hospital medical applications. Neutrons are produced by Giant Dipole Resonance (GDR) reactions from high energy photons on high Z targets; by proper material and geometry optimization, interesting fluence rates of thermalized neutrons can be made available, with minimized fast neutron and gamma backgrounds, for a fractionated type of Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) devoted to external treatment of some specific tumors. A photoneutron converter, constituted by high Z core and surrounded by Low Z materials, is shaped to produce thermal beam inside an irradiation cavity. A feasibility study on Beam Shaping Assembly using MCNPGN simulation code is performed on various geometrical shapes and material selection. A first prototype of the photoconverter has been realized and tested at some hospital high energy medical LINAC facilities. In this paper the preliminary experimental results of neutron fluence rate and neutron spectra produced by the photoconverter prototype are compared to the simulation data. (author)