Design for an accelerator-based orthogonal epithermal neutron beam for boron neutron capture therapy

This paper is concerned with the proposed Birmingham accelerator-based epithermal neutron beam for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). In particular, the option of producing a therapy beam at an orthogonal direction to the incoming protons is considered. Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations, both with and without a head phantom, have shown that an orthogonal beam geometry is not only acceptable but is indeed beneficial, in terms of a lower mean neutron energy and an enhanced therapeutic ratio for the same useful neutron fluence in the therapy beam. Typical treatment times for various beam options have been calculated, and range from 20 to 48 min with a 5 mA beam of 2.8 MeV protons, if the maximum photon-equivalent dose delivered to healthy tissue is to be 12.6 Gy Eq. The effects of proton beam diameter upon the therapy beam parameters have also been considered. (C) 1999 American Association of Physicists in Medicine. [S0094-2405(99)00701-4].