The Development of a Commercial Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Facility: establishing a clinically useable facility at Birmingham University

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Tumours in which the cancerous cells infiltrate the surrounding healthy tissue are particularly difficult to treat and currently have a rather poor prognosis. An example of such a type of cancer is a glio-blastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common form of primary, malignant brain tumour, which afflicts around 2000 people per year in the UK alone. Despite recent improvements in treatment, this essentially remains incurable. Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), the subject of this project, is a form of cancer radiotherapy and looks particularly well-suited to treating this type of tumour. In this, an isotope of boron, boron-10, is administered to the patient in such a way that it accumulates in the cancerous cells. Boron-10 is stable and harmless, until it reacts with thermal neutrons. The products of this reaction destroy the cancerous cells in which they are created. The treatment then proceeds by passing a beam of neutrons though the tumour once the boron-10 has accumulated, thereby destroying most of the cancer cells. The remainder can be treated with standard radiotherapy. Recent studies of this therapy in Japan have shown very promising results. The aim of this project is to create a technology driver for a BNCT facility in Birmingham University and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. This will be done in two phases: the first determining the changes required to an existing facility to deliver this and the second implementing them. Once complete, this will be used to undertake clinical trials of the therapy to demonstrate its effectiveness for a number of types of cancer. At a later stage, this driver will also be used to design a BNCT facility that can be constructed commercially and used in other large radiotherapy departments in the UK and elsewhere.