Santini L, Ferri T, Grisoni L, Caracciolo A, Bortot D, Borghi G, Pola A, Agosteo S, Pascali V, Protti N, Lòpez D Ramos, Ferrara N, Mazzucconi D
Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20133, Italy; INFN, Sezione di Milano, Via Celoria 16, Milan 20133, Italy.
Department of Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20133, Italy; INFN, Sezione di Milano, Via Celoria 16, Milan 20133, Italy.
Phys Med. 2025 Sep;137:105070. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2025.105070. Epub 2025 Aug 15.
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) selectively targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones, by exploiting neutron capture on boron-10, which accumulates to the cancerous cells. To ensure that the therapy is properly tuned, real-time dose monitoring during treatment plays a fundamental role. A Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) imaging system relying on the 478 keV gamma ray emitted by the neutron capture reaction, can, in principle, detect the boron distribution and allow the 3D reconstruction of the dose inside the patient. However, neutron interactions with all the other elements present in tissues and structures introduce background signals, complicating dose evaluation.
In this study, FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations were applied to a BNCT-SPECT oriented detector to simulate the image reconstruction process. The simulations were conducted by irradiating the system at the LENA (Laboratorio Energia Nucleare Applicata) in Pavia and compared with experimental data. Moreover, a proof-of-concept study on a SPECT acquisition have been performed on different borated samples.
The experimental and simulated results are in good agreement for both image acquisition and detected counting rates. The simulated projections, reconstructed with an appropriated iterative algorithm, show that the presented system is capable of distinguishing two separated vials containing boron-10.
This study show that the presented system holds a good promise for enhancing the precision of dose monitoring and localization during clinical BNCT treatments. For this reason, the system will be deployed in real BNCT facilities to evaluate and validate its performance under clinical conditions.
硼中子俘获疗法（BNCT）通过利用硼 - 10上的中子俘获来选择性地靶向肿瘤细胞，同时使健康细胞免受损伤，硼 - 10会在癌细胞中积累。为确保治疗得到适当调整，治疗期间的实时剂量监测起着至关重要的作用。基于中子俘获反应发射的478 keV伽马射线的单光子发射计算机断层扫描（SPECT）成像系统原则上可以检测硼的分布，并实现患者体内剂量的三维重建。然而，中子与组织和结构中存在的所有其他元素的相互作用会引入背景信号，使剂量评估变得复杂。
在本研究中，将FLUKA蒙特卡罗模拟应用于面向BNCT - SPECT的探测器，以模拟图像重建过程。模拟是通过在帕维亚的LENA（应用核能实验室）对系统进行辐照来进行的，并与实验数据进行比较。此外，还对不同的含硼样品进行了SPECT采集的概念验证研究。
图像采集和检测计数率的实验结果与模拟结果吻合良好。用适当的迭代算法重建的模拟投影表明，所提出的系统能够区分两个装有硼 - 10的分开的小瓶。
本研究表明，所提出的系统在提高临床BNCT治疗期间剂量监测和定位的精度方面具有良好的前景。因此，该系统将被部署到实际的BNCT设施中，以评估和验证其在临床条件下的性能。
