Prompt gamma-ray imaging in realistic background conditions of a boron neutron capture therapy facility
Abstract Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a highly targeted radiation therapy that shows great promise for treating tumors that are challenging to address with conventional methods. The dose deposited in the tumor during a treatment can be monitored by detecting prompt gamma rays at 478 keV g...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03764-4 |
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| author | Anita Caracciolo Davide Mazzucconi Tommaso Ferri Luca Grisoni Filippo Ghisio Martina Piroddi Giacomo Borghi Marco Carminati Stefano Agosteo Kazuki Tsuchida Takeo Nishitani Yasuaki Ichikawa Akira Uritani Saverio Altieri Nicoletta Protti Carlo Fiorini |
| author_facet | Anita Caracciolo Davide Mazzucconi Tommaso Ferri Luca Grisoni Filippo Ghisio Martina Piroddi Giacomo Borghi Marco Carminati Stefano Agosteo Kazuki Tsuchida Takeo Nishitani Yasuaki Ichikawa Akira Uritani Saverio Altieri Nicoletta Protti Carlo Fiorini |
| author_sort | Anita Caracciolo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a highly targeted radiation therapy that shows great promise for treating tumors that are challenging to address with conventional methods. The dose deposited in the tumor during a treatment can be monitored by detecting prompt gamma rays at 478 keV generated by boron neutron capture reactions within the tumor cells. However, this task is highly challenging due to the significant background of neutrons and gamma rays present during treatment that risk to mask the useful signal. An additional challenge is represented by borated polyethylene typically used for radioprotection purposes in the walls of the treatment rooms, which generates gamma rays of the same energy of the ones of clinical interest. To address these issues, we propose a scintillator-based detection system, integrating a pinhole collimator, an artificial neural network for gamma-ray position reconstruction and a multi-layer shielding strategy. This system successfully imaged borated samples with concentrations as low as 1843 ppm of 10B, achieving a spatial resolution of approximately 1 cm, during neutron irradiation with a fluence rate of 107 n/cm2/s at the accelerator-based neutron facility at Nagoya University, demonstrating its potential for dose monitoring in clinical-like BNCT environments. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-330f2a764e0b4e628c12ea904a769c03 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-330f2a764e0b4e628c12ea904a769c032025-08-20T03:16:32ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-05-0115111410.1038/s41598-025-03764-4Prompt gamma-ray imaging in realistic background conditions of a boron neutron capture therapy facilityAnita Caracciolo0Davide Mazzucconi1Tommaso Ferri2Luca Grisoni3Filippo Ghisio4Martina Piroddi5Giacomo Borghi6Marco Carminati7Stefano Agosteo8Kazuki Tsuchida9Takeo Nishitani10Yasuaki Ichikawa11Akira Uritani12Saverio Altieri13Nicoletta Protti14Carlo Fiorini15Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Politecnico di MilanoIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di MilanoDipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Politecnico di MilanoIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di MilanoDipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Politecnico di MilanoDipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Politecnico di MilanoDipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Politecnico di MilanoDipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Politecnico di MilanoIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di MilanoGraduate School of Engineering, Nagoya UniversityGraduate School of Engineering, Nagoya UniversityGraduate School of Engineering, Nagoya UniversityGraduate School of Engineering, Nagoya UniversityDipartimento di Fisica, Università di PaviaDipartimento di Fisica, Università di PaviaDipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Politecnico di MilanoAbstract Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a highly targeted radiation therapy that shows great promise for treating tumors that are challenging to address with conventional methods. The dose deposited in the tumor during a treatment can be monitored by detecting prompt gamma rays at 478 keV generated by boron neutron capture reactions within the tumor cells. However, this task is highly challenging due to the significant background of neutrons and gamma rays present during treatment that risk to mask the useful signal. An additional challenge is represented by borated polyethylene typically used for radioprotection purposes in the walls of the treatment rooms, which generates gamma rays of the same energy of the ones of clinical interest. To address these issues, we propose a scintillator-based detection system, integrating a pinhole collimator, an artificial neural network for gamma-ray position reconstruction and a multi-layer shielding strategy. This system successfully imaged borated samples with concentrations as low as 1843 ppm of 10B, achieving a spatial resolution of approximately 1 cm, during neutron irradiation with a fluence rate of 107 n/cm2/s at the accelerator-based neutron facility at Nagoya University, demonstrating its potential for dose monitoring in clinical-like BNCT environments.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03764-4 |
| spellingShingle | Anita Caracciolo Davide Mazzucconi Tommaso Ferri Luca Grisoni Filippo Ghisio Martina Piroddi Giacomo Borghi Marco Carminati Stefano Agosteo Kazuki Tsuchida Takeo Nishitani Yasuaki Ichikawa Akira Uritani Saverio Altieri Nicoletta Protti Carlo Fiorini Prompt gamma-ray imaging in realistic background conditions of a boron neutron capture therapy facility Scientific Reports |
| title | Prompt gamma-ray imaging in realistic background conditions of a boron neutron capture therapy facility |
| title_full | Prompt gamma-ray imaging in realistic background conditions of a boron neutron capture therapy facility |
| title_fullStr | Prompt gamma-ray imaging in realistic background conditions of a boron neutron capture therapy facility |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prompt gamma-ray imaging in realistic background conditions of a boron neutron capture therapy facility |
| title_short | Prompt gamma-ray imaging in realistic background conditions of a boron neutron capture therapy facility |
| title_sort | prompt gamma ray imaging in realistic background conditions of a boron neutron capture therapy facility |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03764-4 |
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