title: Neutron autoradiography imaging of selective boron uptake in human metastatic tumours.
abstract: The ability to selectively hit the tumour cells is an essential characteristic of an anti-tumour therapy. In boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) this characteristic is based on the selective uptake of (10)B in the tumour cells with respect to normal tissues. An important step in the BNCT planning is the measurement of the boron concentration in the tissue samples, both tumour and healthy. When the tumour is spread through the healthy tissue, as in the case of metastases, the knowledge of the different kinds of tissues in the sample being analysed is crucial. If the percentage of tumour and normal tissues cannot be evaluated, the obtained concentration is a mean value depending on the composition of the different samples being measured. In this case an imaging method that could give information both on the morphology and on the spatial distribution of boron concentration in the sample would be a fundamental support. In this paper, the results of the boron uptake analysis in the tumour and in the healthy samples taken from human livers after boron phenylalanine (BPA) infusion are shown; boron imaging was performed using neutron autoradiography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear and Theoretical Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. saverio.altieri@pv.infn.it
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Altieri
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bortolussi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bruschi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chiari
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fossati
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stella
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Prati
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roveda
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zonta
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zonta
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Clerici
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nano
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pinelli
mesh_terms: D001345:Autoradiography / Q000379:methods*; D001895:Boron / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D009502:Neutrons; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D001895:Boron