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1992 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Depth-dose evaluation for gadolinium neutron capture therapy

Research Project

Project/Area Number 03680197
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Research Field Nuclear engineering
Research InstitutionMusashi Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

MATSUMOTO Tetsuo  Atomic Energy Research Lab. Musashi Institute of Tech. Assistant Professor, 原子力研究所, 講師 (00139411)

Project Period (FY) 1991 – 1992
KeywordsGadolinium / Neutron capture / Neutron transport code / Dose distribution / capture gamma-rays / Internal conversion electrons / Phantom
Research Abstract

The isotope gadolinium (^<157>Gd) has been suggested as an alternative neutron capture (NCT) agent to ^<10>B. Possible advantages of Gd-NCT are as follows : (i) thermal neutron cross sections (245,000 barn) for ^<157>Gd is 66 times larger than that of ^<10>B. (ii) gadolinium neutron capture reactions produce prompt gamma-rays with relatively low energy accompanying by emission of low energy conversion and Auger electrons. (iii) gadolinium is used as a contrast medium for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and may lead to an effective Gd-NCT compound.
In this study the depth-dose distributions were evaluated by phantom experiments and calculations for possible application of Gd-NCT. The experiments were carried out at the irradiation port in the experimental beam hole (7R) of JRR3M. The distributions of thermal neutron flux and gamma-ray dose rate in a tumor-simulated phantom were measured by gold foil activation, TLDs and film methods. A two-dimensional neutron-coupled gamma-ray transport code (DOT3.5) was also employed for the calculations of neutron and capture gamma-ray fluence rates.
The calculations and experiments showed that (i) a significant dose can be delivered to a tumor when Gd is accumulated in the tumor. (ii) the dose distribution was a function of storongly interrelated parameters such as gadolinium concentrations, tumor site and collimator aperture (neutron beam size). (iii) the Gd-NCT by thermal neutrons appears to be strong potential for treatment of superficial tumors.

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Published: 1994-03-24  

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