Prog Med Phys.  2014 Sep;25(3):151-156. 10.14316/pmp.2014.25.3.151.

Preliminary Study for Imaging of Therapy Region from Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

• Jung JY
• Yoon DK
• Han SM
• Jang H
• Suh TS

• KMID: 1910547
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14316/pmp.2014.25.3.151

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to confirm the feasibility of imaging of therapy region from the boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) using the measurement of the prompt gamma ray depending on the neutron flux. Through the Monte Carlo simulation, we performed the verification of physical phenomena from the BNCT; (1) the effects of neutron according to the existence of boron uptake region (BUR), (2) the internal and external measurement of prompt gamma ray dose, (3) the energy spectrum by the prompt gamma ray. All simulation results were deducted using the Monte Carlo n-particle extended (MCNPX, Ver.2.6.0, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA) simulation tool. The virtual water phantom, thermal neutron source, and BURs were simulated using the MCNPX. The energy of the thermal neutron source was defined as below 1 eV with 2,000,000 n/sec flux. The prompt gamma ray was measured with the direction of beam path in the water phantom. The detector material was defined as the lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (Lu0,6Y1,4Si0,5:Ce; LYSO) scintillator with lead shielding for the collimation. The BUR's height was 5 cm with the 28 frames (bin: 0.18 cm) for the dose calculation. The neutron flux was decreased dramatically at the shallow region of BUR. In addition, the dose of prompt gamma ray was confirmed at the 9 cm depth from water surface, which is the start point of the BUR. In the energy spectrum, the prompt gamma ray peak of the 478 keV was appeared clearly with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the 41 keV (energy resolution: 8.5%). In conclusion, the therapy region can be monitored by the gamma camera and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using the measurement of the prompt gamma ray during the BNCT.

Keyword

BNCT; Neutron flux; Prompt gamma ray; Monte Carlo; MCNPX

MeSH Terms

Boron
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy*
Gamma Cameras
Gamma Rays
Neutrons
Physical Phenomena
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
Water
Boron
Water

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Change of the neutron flux depending on the depth of the phantom. (a) The neutron flux according to the depth from the water phantom without boron uptake region (BUR), (b) The neutron flux according to the depth from the water phantom with boron uptake region (BUR), (c) the change of the neutron flux from the BUR.

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  Fig. 2. Percentage depth dose of the prompt gamma ray from the phantom; (a) the external detection using the detector, (b) in-vivo dosimetry using the simulation.

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  Fig. 3. Energy spectrum including the prompt gamma ray peak of the 478 keV with the full width at half maximum of the 41 keV (energy resolution: 8.5%).

Reference

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