Hadron Therapy in Latin America

ANDRÉS J. KREINER; JAVIER BERGUEIRO; ALEJANDRO A BURLON; HUGO DI PAOLO; WALTER CASTELL; VLADIMIR THATAR VENTO; PABLO LEVINAS; DANIEL CARTELLI; JOSÉ M. KESQUE; ALEJANDO A. VALDA; J.C. ILARDO; M. BALDO; J. ERHARDT; MARIO E. DEBAY; HECTOR R. SOMACAL; DANIEL M. MINSKY; L. ESTRADA; A. HAZARABEDIAN; F. JOHANN; J.C. SUAREZ SANDIN; M. IGARZABAL; H. HUCK; M. REPETTO; M. OBLIGADO; J. LELL; J. PADULO; MARIA S. HERRERA; SARA J. GONZÁLEZ; M. E. CAPOULAT; J. DAVIDSON; M. DAVIDSON

Santiago de Chile

Simposio; VIII Latina American Symposium on Nuclear Physics and Applications; 2009

he use of proton and heavy ion beams for radiotherapy is a well established cancer treatment modality in the first world, which is becoming increasingly widespread, due to its clear advantages over conventional photon-based treatments. This strategy is suitable when the tumor is spatially well localized. Also the use of neutrons has tradition. Here Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) stands out, though on a much smaller scale, being a promising alternative for tumors which are diffuse and infiltrating. On this sector, so far only nuclear reactors have been used as neutron sources. In this paper we briefly describe the situation in Latin America and in particular we discuss the present status of an ongoing project to develop a folded Tandem-ElectroStatic-Quadrupole (TESQ) accelerator for Accelerator-Based (AB)-Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) at the Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina. The project goal is a machine capable of delivering 30 mA of 2.4 MeV protons to be used in conjunction with a neutron production target based on the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction. These are the specifications needed to produce sufficiently intense and clean epithermal neutron beams to perform BNCT for deep-seated tumors in less than an hour. The machine being currently designed and constructed is a folded TESQ with a terminal at 0.6 MV as a smaller scale prototype. Since the concept is modular the same structure will be used for the 1.2 MV final accelerator.