Preclinical studies of MRI guided BNCT at Torino and Pavia Universities

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a binary hadrontherapy performed on head and neck recurrent and primary cancers, skin melanomas and highly malignant brain tumours. BNCT is based on the capture reaction induced by low energy neutrons on 10B selectively delivered by tumour-targeting drugs. A couple of high LET hadrons triggers cell death through the local energy deposition along densely ionizing tracks with ranges of 5-9 μm, which destroy tumour cells without affecting adjacent healthy tissues. This makes BNCT a promising treatment for disseminated and infiltrating tumours that cannot be handled by surgery, conventional radiotherapy or heavy ion therapy, which require a precise localisation of the pathology. The real time knowledge of 10B concentration in tumour is crucial to exploit BNCT selectivity. Aim of the present work is the efficiency evaluation of a theranostic agent for MRI guided BNCT.