Russian scientists have created a unique installation for treating the most complex types of cancer, including glioblastoma (an aggressive brain tumor). This was announced by Sergey Taskaev, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Our development is designed for the treatment of oncological diseases using boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). Unlike existing methods such as proton or gamma therapy, our installation provides a unique quality of neutron beam. It was specifically designed to achieve maximum concentration of epithermal neutrons, minimizing the number of fast and thermal neutrons, which makes the treatment more accurate and safer.
Radiation therapy uses ionizing radiation but can damage healthy cells. The BNCT method solves this problem by accumulating a boron-containing drug in tumor cells. After that, patients are exposed to neutron irradiation. This triggers a nuclear reaction, releasing energy precisely in cancer cells containing boron, and destroying them from the inside.
An important element of the therapy is the boron-phenylalanine drug, which tumors "devour" due to their increased need for nutrients. As a result, cells accumulate boron, and irradiation becomes accurate and targeted.
Despite the experimental status of the technology, there are already four such installations in the world for clinical trials. One of the devices is successfully used in China, and in the near future, such installations will appear in leading cancer centers in Russia.
Earlier www1.ru reported that a system for assessing the toxicity of drugs for cellular CAR-T therapy was created in Kazan.
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