Calibration of epithermal neutron beam intensity for dosimetry at JRR-4

Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; Kumada, Hiroaki; Kishi, Toshiaki; Torii, Yoshiya; Sakurai, Yoshinori*; Kobayashi, Toru*

Proceedings of 11th World Congress on Neutron Capture Therapy (ISNCT-11) (CD-ROM), 15 Pages, 2004/10

To carry out the boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) using the epithermal neutron, the epithermal neutron beam intensity was measured by using Au reaction rate activated on the resonance absorption peak (4.9eV). Two scaling factors, which are the reactor power calibration factor and the calculation/experiment (C/E) scaling factor, are necessary in order to correct with the simulation and actual irradiation experiment. First, an optimum detector position was investigated using MCNP code. The result of MCNP calculation showed that the influence of subject placed at the collimator was below 1% when the detector was placed in the distance of over 20cm from the collimator. Therefore we installed the monitor holders near the bismuth block in order to set three gold wire monitors. The factors were determined in the calibration experiments that measure the thermal neutron flux in the phantom and reaction rate of the gold wire monitors. The monitoring technique to measure epithermal neutron beam intensity was applied to clinical irradiation with the epithermal neutron beam.

Characterization of neutron beams for boron neutron capture therapy; In-air radiobiological dosimetry

Yamamoto, Tetsuya*; Matsumura, Akira*; Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; Kumada, Hiroaki; Hori, Naohiko; Torii, Yoshiya; Shibata, Yasushi*; Nose, Tadao*

Radiation Research, 160(1), p.70 - 76, 2003/07

https://doi.org/10.1667/RR3012

The survival curves and the RBE for the dose components generated in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) were determined separately in neutron beams at JRR-4. The surviving fractions of V79 cells with or without 10B were obtained using an epithermal neutron beam (ENB), a mixed thermal-epithermal neutron beam (TNB-1), and a thermal (TNB-2) neutron beam. The cell killing effect of the neutron beam in the presence or absence of 10B was highly dependent on the neutron beam used and depended on the epithermal and fast-neutron content of the beam. The RBEs of the boron capture reaction were 4.07, 2.98 and 1.42, and the RBEs of the high-LET dose components based on the hydrogen recoils and the nitrogen capture reaction were 2.50, 2.34 and 2.17 for ENB, TNB-1 and TNB-2, respectively. The approach to the experimental determination of RBEs allows the RBE-weighted dose calculation for each dose component of the neutron beams and contributes to an accurate inter-beam comparison of the neutron beams at the different facilities employed in ongoing and planned BNCT clinical trials.

User's manual of a supporting system for treatment planning in boron neutron capture therapy; JAERI computational dosimetry system

Kumada, Hiroaki; Torii, Yoshiya

JAERI-Data/Code 2002-018, 158 Pages, 2002/09

JAERI-Data-Code-2002-018.pdf:30.28MB

A boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) with epithermal neutron beam is expected to treat effectively for malignant tumor that is located deeply in the brain. It is indispensable to estimate preliminarily the irradiation dose in the brain of a patient in order to perform the epithermal neutron beam BNCT. Thus, the JAERI Computational Dosimetry System (JCDS), which can calculate the dose distributions in the brain, has been developed. JCDS is a software that creates a 3-dimentional head model of a patient by using CT and MRI images and that generates a input data file automaticly for calculation neutron flux and gamma-ray dose distribution in the brain by the Monte Carlo code: MCNP, and that displays the dose distribution on the head model for dosimetry by using the MCNP calculation results. JCDS has any advantages as follows; By treating CT data and MRI data which are medical images, a detail three-dimensional model of patinet's head is able to be made easily. The three-dimensional head image is editable to simulate the state of a head after its surgical processes such as skin flap opening and bone removal for the BNCT with craniotomy that are being performed in Japan. JCDS can provide information for the Patient Setting System to set the patient in an actual irradiation position swiftly and accurately. This report describes basic design and procedure of dosimetry, operation manual, data and library structure for JCDS (ver.1.0)

Intraoperative boron neutron capture therapy using thermal/epithermal mixed beam

Matsumura, Akira*; Yamamoto, Tetsuya*; Shibata, Yasushi*; Nakai, Kei*; Zhang, T.*; Matsushita, Akira*; Takano, Shingo*; Endo, Kiyoshi*; Akutsu, Hiroyoshi*; Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; et al.

Research and Development in Neutron Capture Therapy, p.1073 - 1078, 2002/09

Since 1998 to 2002, a new clinical trial of an intraoperative boron neutron capture therapy (IOBNCT) at JRR-4 of Japan Atomic Energy Institute (JAERI) using BSH with mixed thermal/epithermal neutron beam has been accomplished. There have been 9 patients included in this study. The median survival time (MST) in GBM was 19.8 months and 16.8 months in AA. IOBNCT with mixed thermal/epithermal neutron beam provide better primary radiation effect than conventional therapy in selected cases. Our phase I/II clinical trial was effective in local tumor control. Further clinical trial with new design should be performed to prove the efficacy of IOBNCT.

An Application to Intraoperative BNCT using epithermal neutron of new JRR-4 mode "Epi-12"

Matsushita, Akira*; Yamamoto, Tetsuya*; Matsumura, Akira*; Nose, Tadao*; Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; Kumada, Hiroaki; Torii, Yoshiya; Kashimura, Takanori*; Otake, Shinichi*

Research and Development in Neutron Capture Therapy, p.141 - 143, 2002/09

A thermal-epithermal mixed beam "Thermal Neutron Beam Mode I" was used in the eleven sessions of boron neutron capture therapy which have been performed at JRR-4 from 1998. We are planning to use an epithermal beam for the treatment of deeper tumors in the next trial of the intraoperative BNCT. In this study, "Epi-12" which was made by putting up a cadmium shutter of "Thermal Neutron Beam Mode I" was investigated for the clinical benefits and safety by epithermal beams. Decrease of fast neutron contamination ratio in Epi-12 mode is the advantage for BNCT, particular in the intraoperative BNCT. Because fast neutron on the brain surface is one of the critical factors in the intraoperative BNCT in which the plain beam directly interacts the normal structures. Furthermore a mixture of mode Epi-12 and Th-12 will provide various dose distribution designs. It may be used as a new method to control the best distribution for individual tumors.

Measurement of two-dimensional thermal neutron flux in a water phantom and evaluation of dose distribution characteristics

Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; Kumada, Hiroaki; Torii, Yoshiya; Kishi, Toshiaki; Horiguchi, Yoji

JAERI-Tech 2001-015, 43 Pages, 2001/03

JAERI-Tech-2001-015.pdf:4.95MB

no abstracts in English

Characteristics of neutron beams at JRR-4 for BNCT

Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; Kumada, Hiroaki; Torii, Yoshiya; Hori, Naohiko; Kishi, Toshiaki; Takada, Juntaro*; Otake, S.*

Proceedings of 9th International Symposium on Neutron Capture Therapy for Cancer, p.243 - 244, 2000/10

no abstracts in English