Single dose fast neutron RBE for pulmonary and esophageal damage in mice.

Mice whose thoraxes were exposed to cyclotron neutrons or x rays died from esophagus damage 10 to 70 days after exposure, and from pulmonary damage 70 days to 6 months after exposure. The single exposure RBE for esophagus lethality was 1.9 at at a neutron dose of 1,475 rads and 1.6 for pulmonary lethality at a neutron dose of 950 rads. The significance of these values for neutron radiotherapy of the thorax is discussed.