Preliminary clinical outcomes of accelerator-based BNCT for head and neck cancer

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a type of particle beam therapy that uses particles produced by the boron neutron capture reaction to selectively destroy cancer cells. The high LET radiation produced by the nuclear reaction between thermal neutrons and boron atoms that has been taken up in cancer tissue can selectively destroy cancer cells and is expected to achieve a considerable antitumor effect even on solid tumors with low radiation sensitivity. In recent years, progress has been made in the development of accelerators specifically for use as a neutron source in BNCT, and accelerator-based BNCT (AB-BNCT) neutron sources that can be installed in hospitals have begun being developed and introduced both in Japan and other countries around the world, making BNCT a promising therapy for the future. In March 2020, Sumitomo Heavy Industries' NeuCure® BNCT system, which had been installed at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University in 2018, was approved for the first time as a medical device, and treatment for head and neck cancer was initiated, with insurance reimbursement, in June of the same year. As of September 2023, we have administered BNCT to approximately 200 cases of head and neck cancer, and we have investigated the proportion of BNCT-eligible cases, the treatment efficacy that has been achieved in the cases we have studied, and the future of BNCT, and hereby report the results of these investigations.