Impact of accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy (AB-BNCT) on the treatment of multiple liver tumors and malignant pleural mesothelioma

Background and purpose: To confirm the feasibility of accelerator-based BNCT (AB-BNCT) for treatment of multiple liver tumors and malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), we compared dose distribution and irradiation time between AB-BNCT and reactor-based BNCT (RB-BNCT). Material and methods: We constructed treatment plans for AB-BNCT and RB-BNCT of four multiple liver tumors and six MPM. The neutron beam data on RB-BNCT were those from the research reactor at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute (KURRI). The irradiation time and dose-volume histogram data were assessed for each BNCT system. Results: In BNCT for multiple liver tumors, when the 5 Gy-Eq dose was delivered as the mean dose to the healthy liver tissues, the mean dose delivered to the liver tumors by AB-BNCT and RB-BNCT was 68.1 and 65.1 Gy-Eq, respectively. In BNCT for MPM, when the mean lung dose to the normal ipsilateral lung was 5 Gy-Eq, the mean dose delivered to the MPM tumor by AB-BNCT and RB-BNCT was 20.2 and 19.9 Gy-Eq, respectively. Dose distribution analysis revealed that AB-BNCT is Superior to RB-BNCT for treatment of deep-seated tumors. Conclusions: The feasibility of the AB-BNCT system constructed at our institute was confirmed from a clinical viewpoint in BNCT for multiple liver tumors and MPM. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Radiotherapy and Oncology 92 (2009) 89-95