Some questions of neutron therapy

Author: Sopho Kinkladze
Keywords: Dodecaborane, Tumour, Neutron Therapy, Carborane
Annotation:

The authors of the idea of the radiation therapy to treat tumors and its first use in practice were Pierre and Marie Curies. They were the first to study the impact of radioactive radiation on living organisms and introduced the method of irradiation with radium compounds in practice to fight tumor cells. This marked the onset of a new branch in medicine – radiotherapy, which is widely used in practice today. However, all three types of radiation (with α, β, γ-rays) affect not only tumor cells, but healthy cells, as well. It was why the radiation doses were to be chosen very carefully. Later, they started to use so called radioprotectors. By the end of the 1930 s, G. Locher proposed a new method of radiating tumor formations with a neutron current. This idea was based on the fact that the preparation of stable isotope 10B administered in the cell in advance under the influence of a neutron current of little energy, is transformed into 11B radioactive isotope, which, when decomposed, gives 7Li, α-particle and γ-quantum. Then, it is γ-particles and 7Li nuclei having the major treatment effect. The race value is little. Consequently, the healthy cells are not damaged. This method was named Boron Neutron Capture Therapy. At present, there are various organic substances containing 10B isotope obtained with a great ability to penetrate tumor cells. The report considers carborane- and dodecarborane-containing organic substances and some aspects of their synthesis and application.