<unk><unk>  therapy (NCT) is a radio-therapeutic modality for treating locally invasive malignant tumors such as primary brain tumors, recurrent cancers of the head and neck region, and cutaneous and extracutaneous melanomas. It is a two-step procedure: first, the patient is injected with a tumor-localizing drug containing the non-radioactive isotope boron-10 (10B), which has a high propensity to<unk>  low energy "thermal"<unk> s. The<unk>  cross section of 10B (3,837 barns) is 1,000 times greater than that of the other elements, such as nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, that are present in tissues. In the second step, the patient is radiated with epithermal<unk> s, the sources of which in the past have been nuclear reactors and now are accelerators that produce higher energy epithermal<unk> s. After losing energy as they penetrate tissue, the resultant low energy "thermal"<unk> s are<unk> d by the 10B atoms. The resulting decay reaction yields high-energy alpha particles that kill the cancer cells that have taken up sufficient quantities of 10B. All of the clinical experience to date with NCT has been with the non-radioactive isotope boron-10, and hence this radio-therapeutic modality is known as boron<unk><unk>  therapy (BNCT). The use of another non-radioactive isotope, such as gadolinium (Gd), has been limited to experimental animal studies and has not been used clinically. BNCT has been evaluated clinically as an alternative to conventional radiation therapy for the treatment of malignant brain tumors such as glioblastomas, which presently are incurable, and more recently, locally advanced recurrent cancers of the head and neck region and, much less frequently, superficial melanomas primarily involving the skin and genital region.
Neutron capture therapy of cancer
Targeted therapy of lung cancer
Blood irradiation therapy
Radionuclide therapy
Diffusing alpha emitters radiation therapy
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Experimental cancer treatment