Some of us had the privilege to attend the technical meeting on advances in boron neutron capture therapy organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Due to Covid-19, the meeting was held virtually between 27-31 July 2020.
Over 100 participants across 20 countries joined this meeting to share their personal experience and expertise in aid to review and update the current TECDOC-1223. Majority of the participants submitted an abstract, whereby the co-chairs for each session presented a summary of the abstracts. Some of the key points addressed at the meeting were:
- Standardisation of calculation and reporting for BNCT treatments.
- An overview of the current accelerator and their targets.
- Need of beam characterization and discussion on beam requirements.
- An overview of the boron compounds.
- A guideline to produce inter-comparable radiobiological data are required to feed computational models to design accurate procedures for treatment planning and dosimetry.
- Regulatory considerations that cover radiation safety.
The speciality groups will proceed with the drafting of the new sections of the TECDOC and a review will be held in approximately one year. Thereafter, a consultants’ meeting may be held to finalise the document.
The full report of the meeting can be found here. The full draft is expected to be ready before june 2021.