Cancer treatment
Neutron beams - Trace analysis, imaging and medicine

We know that cancer cells are more sensitive than normal cells to the lethal effects of ionizing radiation, so neutrons can be used to treat cancers. Their effectiveness can be enhanced by a binary technique: Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT).

The original idea was to accumulate a boron isotope that is highly absorbent to thermal neutrons (¹⁰B) within cancer cells, then irradiate the diseased region with a neutron beam. The ¹⁰B nuclei absorb the neutrons and are fissioned, producing an α particle and a ⁷Li with a total kinetic energy of around 2.4 MeV, as well as a lower-energy γ ray (figure 8). The mean free path of α and ⁷Li particles is around 12 µm, the size of a cancer cell. What's more, these particles are particularly lethal, even to diseased but...