A study was conducted at the Helsinki University Hospital. The scientific director of the research program, professor Heikki Joensuu, considers the results significant and very interesting. Previously BNCT had been evaluated only in the treatment of some brain tumors, but this study, he feels, opens up a new field for BNCT.

The results of 12 patients diagnosed with cancer of the head and neck and treated in a prospective clinical trial were reported in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.

All patients were head and neck cancer patients whose cancer had reoccurred locally after surgery and conventional radiation. Ten out of the 12 patients had substantial tumor shrinkage following BNCT. In 7 of the cases the tumor disappeared completely. Adverse effects of treatment were moderate and resembled those of radiation therapy.

The study has been expanded, and up to 30 patients will now be allowed to enter the study.

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, or BNCT, is a form of radiation treatment for cancer, however it is still in the experimental stages. With this treatment a boron containing compound (boronophenylalanine) is infused into a peripheral vein, and accumulates in the cancer tissue. Cancer is then irradiated with neutrons taken from a nuclear reactor. This causes the boron atoms to spit within the cancerous tissue as a result from a boron neutron capture reaction. The resulting smaller particles cause a large radiation effect within the tumor tissue, which destroys the cancer cells.

The process allows for targeting a high dosage of radiation to the tumor, sparing the surrounding healthy tissue from the highest doses or radiation. It also allows treatment of patients who can no longer be treated with conventional radiation therapy. BNCT is administered as a single one day treatment that may be repeated.

The study was sponsored by Boneca Corporation whose clinical research program also includes a study that evaluates BNCT in the treatment of primary glioblastoma, a highly malignant brain tumor.

Source: University of Helsinki