Gadolinium dosimetry, a problematic issue in the neutron capture therapy. Comparison between experiments and computational simulations

Abstract

In GdNCT the interested isotope is 157Gd that captures neutrons with (n, ) reaction and also emits internal conversion and Auger electrons. These electrons have an important effect on DNA strands, mainly due to the property of gadolinium to link to DNA. The emitted gamma rays partially interacts with tumours but mainly diffuse in the body damaging healthy tissues. Therefore in the study of Gd therapeutical effect both dosimetric and microdosimetric analyses must be performed. At Pisa University, in the last years some works were performed by NCT group. At the present these researches are continued on these topics carrying out also a PhD thesis. In this frame some simulations, using MC code, were performed in order to evaluate the dose distribution due to Gd reactions. It is however necessary to calibrate the calculations on experimental results, though they are scarce in GdNCT. Some experiments with 157Gd were performed by Milan group using gel dosimetry [1, 2, 3]. Therefore some computational comparisons were done. In these article the results of this comparisons are shown and discussed. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.