A New Anti-cancer Weapon

Facing cancer, the "king of all diseases", a fifth therapy has emerged. After surgery, conventional radiotherapy, anti-cancer drugs and immunotherapy, boron neutron capture therapy has brought new hope to cancer patients. BNCT is an emerging cancer treatment that belongs to radiation therapy. It exploits the selective accumulation of the boron-10 isotope in cancer cells and, by introducing external neutron beams to excite these boron atoms, produces local high-energy alpha particles and lithium ions that effectively kill cancer cells. BNCT uses the reaction principle between neutrons and boron to selectively destroy only cancer cells; in terms of effectiveness and safety, it is an epoch-making cancer treatment.

Indications for BNCT

BNCT was developed to treat recurrent, invasive, intractable and inoperable cancers. It can also be applied to areas that have previously received radiation therapy.

The main current indications are:
● Head and neck cancer
  Common head and neck cancers such as nasopharyngeal cancer, sinus cancer, oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, gingival cancer, salivary gland cancer and skin cancer of the scalp and face.
● Recurrent breast cancer

※ Some techniques are still at the clinical trial stage, therapeutic effects vary between individuals, and indications must be assessed and determined by a doctor.

How BNCT Works

● First, a special boron-containing drug is injected into the patient.
● The drug has a high affinity for cancer cells. Once in the body, the boron compound preferentially accumulates in cancer cells and is distributed only minimally in other normal tissues. The drug itself is non-toxic and harmless to the human body and has no direct cancer-killing effect.
● The patient is then irradiated with a neutron beam for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
● When neutrons are captured by the boron element inside cancer cells, powerful alpha particles and lithium ions are produced, precisely "blowing up" the cancer cells.
● Because the range of this radiation is only about the diameter of a single cancer cell, damage to surrounding normal tissue is minimal, achieving the ideal therapeutic effect of "killing only cancer cells without harming normal cells".
  BNCT treatment "marks" the cancer cells in the patient's body and then achieves a precision strike through neutron irradiation.

BNCT irradiation room

Advantages of BNCT (Boron Neutron Capture Therapy)

Dual precision targeting
First, boron-10 is selectively accumulated in tumour cells for the first precise targeting; then the neutron beam irradiation area is controlled so that only the tumour site is irradiated, completing a second precise strike.
No drug-resistance issues
BNCT is a physical treatment that does not rely on chemical drugs, effectively avoiding the cell resistance commonly seen in chemotherapy or immunotherapy.
Short treatment cycle
A BNCT course usually requires only 1–2 irradiations
Fewer side effects
The effect of BNCT is limited to the cellular level, effectively reducing damage to surrounding normal tissue.

Treatment results (taking head and neck cancer as an example)