Advances of LINAC-based boron neutron capture therapy in Korea

Abstract

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) has been attracting interest as a new radiation modality for cancer therapy because it can selectively destroy cancer cells while maintaining the healthy state of surrounding normal cells. Many experimental trials have demonstrated significant BNCT treatment efficacy using neutron beams from research reactors. However, nuclear reactor technology cannot be scaled to sites in hospitals delivering patient treatment. Therefore, compact accelerator-based neutron sources that could be installed in many hospitals are under development or have even been commissioned at many facilities around the world. In Korea, a radio-frequency (RF) linac-based BNCT (A-BNCT) facility is under development by DawonMedax (DM). It provides the highly efficient production of an epithermal neutron beam with an optimized neutron energy spectrum range of 0.1~10 keV. With a 2-mA 10-MeV proton beam from the accelerator, the irradiation port epithermal neutron flux is higher than 1 × 109 n/cm2⋅s. Comprehensive verification and validation of the system have been conducted with the measurement of both proton and neutron beam characteristics. Significant therapeutic effects from BNCT have been confirmed by DM in both in vitro and in vivo non-clinical trials. Further, during exposure to epithermal neutrons, all other unintended radiation is controlled to levels meeting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommendations. Recently, the Korean FDA has accepted an investigational new drug (IND) and the first-in-human clinical trial of BNCT is now being prepared. This paper introduces the principles of BNCT and accelerator-based neutron sources for BNCT and reports the recent advances of DM A-BNCT facility which is the main part of this paper.

Design and beam dynamics simulation of an 8 MeV compact accelerator-driven neutron source

“…This result meets the requirements for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). Compared to the similar accelerators, such as the 7 MeV linac injector of XiPAF [1,2], RANS [3], A-BNCT LINAC [4], and the CPHS [5], as shown in table 1. PAFA reduces the length of the accelerator's neutron source while maintaining the same acceleration gradient and terminal energy.…”

Field tuning study and RF electromagnetic design of a continuous-wave RFQ with ramped inter-vane voltage for AB-BNCT

“…Accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy (AB-BNCT) facilities are rapidly being developed worldwide due to their advantages of good beamline performance, easy maintenance, low construction cost, and high safety [1][2][3][4][5]. A high-intensity neutron beam can be generated using the nuclear reaction between a low energy proton beam (< 3 MeV) and lithium, and this can meet the requirements for BNCT after the beam shaping assembly (BSA).…”

Beam dynamics design and error study of the coupled structure with ladder RFQ and IH-DTL

“…Low energy proton and heavy ion accelerators have a wide range of applications in scientific research and industries, such as compact accelerator-driven neutron sources (CANS) [1,2], accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy (AB-BNCT) [3,4], and linear accelerator injectors for proton and heavy ion medical accelerators [5][6][7]. Radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) linac is a widely used structure that can simultaneously achieve beam acceleration, transverse focusing, and longitudinal bunching.…”