The PSIHO Project Photoneutron Source In HOspital

Financially supported by:

National Institute for Nuclear Physics

•Ministery of Industry, Research and University

•Fondazione CRT Torino

In-hospital installation of Dedicated Linac &New PhoNeS photoconverter

Gianrossano GIANNINI(giannini@ts.infn.it) Physics Dept. Trieste University and INFN

Via Valerio 2, Trieste, 34127, Italy

PhoNeS Bianco prototype

50% boron carbide slabs

50% Epoxy resin slabs, thickness 2 mm

Lead slabs, thickness 1 mm

Graphite:

- 2 horizontal blocks, 15 x 30 x 60 cm3

- 2 vertical blocks, 15 x 30 x 30 cm3

GR

AP

HIT

E GR

AP

HIT

ELEAD

D2O

POLYETHILENE

Closed cavity configuration

• Two carbon fibre boxes filled with heavy water and a polyethylene slab to close

Thermal neutron field of suitable intensity and energy spectral distribution for biological samples irradiation

60 cm

60 cm

MCNP-GN simulation

Cavity: 20 x 20 x 10 cm3At present

Universita’ degli Studi di Torino II Facolta’ di Medicina e ChirurgiaASO San Luigi Gonzaga Orbassano

TorinoOrbassano –Torino (Italy) The hospital was

funded in 1818.

Since 1970 is situated in the new location.

It is leader in the treatment of lung diseases.

BUNKER

Campioni di tessuti polmonari umani, in seguito a rimozione chirurgica presso l’ospedale S. Luigi Orbassano di Torino

dopo perfusione con boron-phenyl-alanine arricchita in 10B (10BPA) per 2 ore,

Campioni ~10mm di spessore e ~ 1cm2 di area preparati su lastrine di CR-39

Convertitore fotoneutronico PhoNeS montato presso il linac Elekta SLIT 25 MV dell’Ospedale Le Molinette di Torino

Campioni biologici su CR-39 due strati (37 x 13 x 1 mm3) esposti a neutroni termici nella cavita’ di PhoNeS

Electa SL2525 MV

70000 M.U.@400 M.U./min104 s ~ 3 hours

PHONES~1011 n/cm2

Histological samples on CR-39 detectors and corresponding image of samples after irradiation.

CR-39 ANALYSIS

• ImageJ.• Cinema 4D.• Surfer8.

Image processing

green>20ppmblue>40ppm

orange>60ppmred>80ppm

Color-densitometry

Image-Pro Plus © Microscopic Image Automated Analysis

for hole area study and counting

DETERMINAZIONE DEL BORO EMATICO A VARI TEMPI DOPO PERFUSIONE CON BPA

0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0

120.0

140.0

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240

tempo, min

ug

/ m

L &

in

ten

sità

pix

el ICP-MS @ PAVIACR39 @ TRIESTESi Det @ COMO

Time, min

DETERMINATION OF BORON CONCENTRATION AT VARIOUS TIMES AFTER PERFUSION WITH 10BPA

μg

/ml

(Pav

ia)

or p

pm

(T

riest

e/C

omo)

Analisi di campioni biologici da tessuto umano trattato con perfusione ex-vivo con BPA per studiare diversi tipi di patologie tumorali (in particolare il mesotelioma) seguendo le indicazioni degli oncologi.

Si prevede che nei prossimi decenni (2015) il mesotelioma polmonare (neoplasia della pleura polmonare) diventi uno dei tumori con il più alto tasso di incidenza a causa dell’uso industriale e civile dell’amianto negli ultimi 20-30 anni. QUESTO ASPETTO E’ DI GRANDE INTERESSE PER LA COMPONENTE OSPEDALIERA.

In Regione Piemonte si prevede un numero rilevante di pazienti affetti da tale patologia per la presenza di impianti industriali che utilizzavano o producevano eternit (“Eternit” di Casale Monferrato), e come dimostrato anche da recenti fatti di cronaca (Chivasso (TO), 22/07/08)

Le regioni più colpite dal mesotelioma, il cosidetto “mal d’amianto”,sono: Liguria, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Piemonte e Lombardia

• Possibility of full time use of the LINAC overcoming the restriction imposed by radiotherapy departments for the use of clinical accelerators:

– Time restriction (following the patients timetable)– Impossibility to modify the machine parameters

Dedicated Linac: advantages & goals

(,n) treashold energy regionNeutron photoproduction

+1.5 times higher

• For photoneutron production it is not necessary to have an optimized gamma beam

• Removing filters (flattening and hardening filters) from the linac gantry • Improving the linac duty cycle, (increasing beam current, repetiton rate, pulse duration, etc.)

to obtain

• higher gamma fluence rate• higher neutron photoproduction

• e-Linac Elekta 25 MeV max dose rate 400 UM/min

• PhoNeS Bianco (weight ~ 400 kg – assembling time ~ 1.5 ore)

• Thermal neutron fluence rate ~ 1E7 n cm-2s-1

• Biologiacl samples: primary lung carcinoma

UM total: 70000; Total fluence: ~ 1E11 ncm-2; Irradiation Time: ~ 3 hrs

Experimental set-up for biological trials

BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES INSIDE THE CAVITY

The irradiation has been carried out at Radiotherapy Department of San Giovanni Battista Molinette Hospital (Turin, Italy)

At present

PhoNeS Optimized Prototype

GRAPHITE

LEAD

HEAVY WATER

POLYETHILENE

IRRADIATION CAVITY

•An optimized geometrical configuration of the various components has been designed.

•The high-Z core for neutron production and the low-Z moderating structures are suitably shaped.

FUTURE

Neutron photoproduction 15 times higher

by using PhoNeS optimized prototype and dedicated

LINAC

PhoNeS Optimized

PhoNeS Bianco

PhoNeS Bianco vs PhoNeS Optimized Prototype

PhoNeS Prototypes Neutron Beam Parameter

PhoNeS Bianco PhoNeS Optimized

Thermal Neutron Fluence

Rate

1.01E7 cm-2s-1

(78%)

1.50E8 cm-2s-1

(73%)

Epithermal Neutron Fluence

Rate

2.18E6 cm-2s-1

(18%)

4.08E7 cm-2s-1

(20%)

FastNeutron Fluence

Rate

5.88E5 cm-2s-1

(4%)

1.43E7 cm-2s-1

(7%)

Biological samples

irradiation time

3 hrs(1E11 ncm-2)

12 min(1E11 ncm-2)

BUNKER INSTALLATION SITE

• ASU San Luigi Gonzaga Orbassano (TO)

Already built and actually not used for radiotherapy. Proposed by San Luigi Gonzaga hospital for PhoNeS BNCT studies

CORRIDOR

CO

NT

RO

L R

OO

M

BUNKER

Conclusion

• A dedicated LINAC and an optimized PhoNeS prototype could provide an increase of neutron photoproduction of:

• about +1.5 times by removing filters (flattening and hardening)• about +4 times by increasing LINAC beam power• about +2.5 times by using PhoNeS optimized prototype• for a total of about 15 times higher in neutron photoproduction

12 min. total thermal neutron fluence rate of 1E11 cm-2

FIRST IN-HOSPITAL NEUTRON SOURCE FOR BNCT RESEARCH!

(available to the worldwide BNCT scientific community)

Institutes

• INFN Torino• INFN Trieste• Università degli Studi di

Torino• Politecnico di Torino• Università degli Studi di

Trieste• Università dell’ Insubria di

Como• Università degli Studi di Pavia• Universita’ FedericoII di

Napoli• Universita’ La Cattolica di

Roma

Collaboration

Hospitals

•IRCC Candiolo (Torino)•ASO Mauriziano Umberto I° (Torino)•AOU San Luigi – Orbassano (Torino)•AOU San Giovanni Battista (Torino)•ASO Sant’Anna (Como)•Ospedale Maggiore (Trieste)•ST. JOHANNS HOSPITAL Salisburgo

IndustriesSORDINA s.p.a. Saonara (PD)

Elekta Company

Tecnologie Avanzate s.r.l. ( Torino)

TRIESTE: Gianrossano Giannini (100%, Resp.Loc., P.O.), ErikVallazza (20%, P.R.), Massimo Vascotto (20%, D.S.S.),

A.Zanini (Resp.Naz., INFN Torino)

• Richieste finanziarie locali a Ts (kE)

MI:9.0 ME:4.0 MC:6.0 TR:2.0 CA:8.0 TOT:29

• Richieste servizi: Officina Meccanica :S.Reia (2m/u), D.Iugovaz (1m/u); Laboratorio Elettronica e Rivelatori : M.Bari (1m/u)

PSIHO Photoneutron Source In HOspital

Torino-Trieste-Como project

• Linac accelerators already exist in hospital radiotherapy departments

• well-known technology accepted by patients and medical staff

• Projects PHONES, NOE, NOE2 supported by INFN from 2005 to 2010

• Encouraging results obtained during:

•feasibility study, •first prototype test (PhoNeS Bianco), •first biological trials on human lungs

• Great interest by San Luigi Gonzaga hospital (Orbassano, Torino) for BNCT study on lung tumors (adenocarcinoma, mesothelioma)

• Availability by Elekta company in order to provide a decommisioned 18 MV Linac and to adapte for BNCT studies

• Possibility of installation in radiotheraoy dept. of San Luigi Gonzaga hospital with collaboration and assistance of radiotherapy staff.• Applications in BNCT:

•analysis of 10B uptake in different lung cancer•study of the behaviour and efficacy of different 10B carriers

• Multidisciplinary applications cultural heritage studies, neutron radiography, etc.

In-Hospital installation of Dedicated Linac

&PhoNeS Optimized PrototypePrevious results