Nuclear reactions for protontherapy intensification

This paper presents some experimental results about the 7Li, 11B and 19F (p, α) nuclear reactions developed using proton beams at energy below 3 MeV in order to be applied to protontherapy. The energy released by proton beams during radiotherapy acts mainly at the end of the proton path in the biological medium, where it increases at high density inside the tumor. At this depth, it is possible to inject in the tumor compounds containing Li, B and F to generate energetic alpha particles from nuclear reactions. At the proton Bragg peak position it is possible to produce 1–8 MeV alpha particles, which enhance the energy density deposited in the tumor increasing the probability to damage the cells. Thanks to the higher relative biological efficiency of the alpha particles with respect to protons, it is expected that the alpha synergic particles defeat the tumor at lower doses.