Reactions induced by deuterons and its applicability to skin tumor treatment

A.A. BURLON; T. ROLDÁN; A.J. KREINER; D.M. MINSKY; A.A. VALDA

Takamatsu, Japón. Presentación mural.

Congreso; 12th International Congress on Neutron Capture Therapy; 2006

International Society for Neutron Capture Therapy y Japanese Society of Neutron Capture Therapy

In this work the D(d,n)3He and 9Be(d,n)10B reactions are studied as neutron sources for skin tumor treatment in the frame of Accelerator-Based BNCT (AB-BNCT). In the range of low bombarding energies (less than 1.5 MeV) these reactions produce neutron spectra which can be easily moderated in order to obtain a thermal flux which can  be applied to irradiate superficial tumors (e.g. skin melanomas). Moreover, the low deuteron energies involved represent an advantage in the design and construction of an accelerator dedicated to AB-BNCT as far as voltage is concerned, compared to the optimal 7Li(p,n) reaction. The total neutron production and the energy and angular distributions for each reaction at different bombarding energies and for the thick targets considered (TiD2, Be) were determined using the available data in the literature. From this information, a  feasibility study has been performed by means of MCNP simulations. The thermal, epithermal and fast neutron fluxes and doses at the skin tumor position (loaded with 40 ppm 10B) located in a whole-body human phantom were simulated for different D2O moderator thicknesses. In the simulated geometry a reflector lead mantle and the treatment room were included. The best-case performance shows that a high Tumor Control Probability (99 %) tumor dose (40 RBEGy) can  be reached at the tumor position keeping the healthy tissue dose below 12.5 RBEGy by means of the 9Be(d,n)10B reaction at 1.1 MeV for a deuteron current of 20 mA and a 30 cm D2O moderator in 52 minutes.