An improved neutron autoradiography set-up for 10B concentration measurements in biological samples

tAim: Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a binary hadrontherapy which exploits theneutron capture reaction in boron, together with a selective uptake of boronated substancesby the neoplastic tissue. There is increasing evidence that future improvements in clinicalBNCT will be triggered by the discovery of new boronated compounds, with higher selectivityfor the tumor with respect to clinically used sodium borocaptate (BSH) and boronopheny-lalanine (BPA).Background: Therefore, a10B quantification technique for biological samples is needed inorder to evaluate the performance of new boronated formulations.Materials and methods: This article describes an improved neutron autoradiography set-upemploying radiation sensitive films where the latent tracks are made visible by properetching conditions.Results: Calibration curves for both liquid and tissue samples were obtained.Conclusions: The obtained calibration curves were adopted to set-up a mechanism to pointout boron concentration in the whole sample.