Boron Neutron Capture Therapy activity of diffused tumors at Triga Mark II in Pavia

The Boron neutron Capture Therapy research in Pavia has a long tradition: it begun more than 20 years ago at the Triga Mark II reactor of the University. A technique for the treatment of the hepatic metastases was developed, consisting in explanting the liver treated with 10B, irradiating it in the thermal column of the reactor, and reimplanting the organ in the patient. In the last years, the possibility of applying BNCT to the lung tumours using epithermal collimated neutron beams and without explanting the organ, is being explored. The principal obtained results of the BNCT research will be presented, with particular emphasis on the following aspects: a) the project of a new thermal column configuration to make the thermal neutron flux more uniform inside the explanted liver, b) the Monte Carlo study by means of the MCNP code of the thermal neutron flux distribution inside a patient’s thorax irradiated with epithermal neutrons, and c) the measurement of the boron concentration in tissues by (n,α) spectroscopy and neutron autoradiography