Requirements for and status of nuclear data for radiotherapy with neutrons

A general review is given of the nuclear data required for determining doses in radiotherapy with neutrons up to 70 MeV and of the current status of some of these data. Data considered are those for kerma calculations in tissue and tissue equivalent chamber materials, for neutron transport calculations in tissue and for measurements with activation and scintillation detectors. Over the last 5 years there have been significant improvements in data for carbon and oxygen at neutron energies above 20 MeV, in total and scattering cross-sections, and particularly in the number and energy spectra of emitted charged particles. The most urgent need is for an evaluation of all carbon and oxygen data for neutrons from 20-70 MeV, so that dose calculations at different centres can be based on a common data set. (author). 66 refs, 12 figs