IAEA, Vienna, 2001, - 302 p. (ΠΠ½Π³. ΡΠ·ΡΠΊ)
There are about 6000 new glioblastoma multiform brain tumours diagnosed each year in the United States of America alone. This cancer is usually fatal within six months of diagnosis even with current standard treatments. Research on boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) has been considered as a method of potentially curing such cancers.
There is a great interest at under-utilised research reactors institutions to identify new medical utilization, attractive to the general public.
Neutron capture therapy is a true multidisciplinary topic with a large variety of individuals involved. This publication attempts to provide current information for all those thinking about being involved with NCT, based on the knowledge and experience of those who have pioneered the treatment. It covers the whole range of NCT from designing reactor conversions or new facilities, through to clinical trials and their effectiveness. However, since most work has been done with boron capture therapy for brain tumours using modified thermal research reactors, this tends to be the focus of the report.
One of the factors which need to be addressed at the beginning is the timing of the further development of NCT facilities. It should be emphasised that all current work is still at the research stage. Many of those now involved believe that there is little need for many more research facilities until such time as the treatment shows more promising results. For this and other reasons discussed in the report, very serious consideration should be given by research reactor owners and operators before spending large sums of money converting their facilities for NCT.
Papers presented at the Technical Committee Meeting on Current Issues Related to Neutron Capture Therapy, held in Vienna from 14 to 18 June 1999, are given in the annexes. The contribution of the participants to the drafting of this publication is gratefully acknowledged.