SBIR INNOVATIVE CONCEPT AWARD - DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, PREVENTION AND RESEARCH OF PEDIATRIC CANCERS AND/OR RARE CANCERS.

A compact neutron source with collimator and drug delivery method will be developed that permits radiation to go directly to the cancerous cells of the pons, while minimizing the dose to healthy tissue and organs. In conventional radiation therapy, the main palliative treatment for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, both healthy and cancerous cells receive roughly the same dose. This temporarily slows the tumor growth, but radiation treatments must be discontinued to limit healthy tissue damage. Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a radiation treatment that can provide a more targeted destruction of the cancer cells while minimizing healthy tissue damage. A new compact neutron generator married to a neutron optic can deliver the neutrons directly to the pons and, with a precise boron delivery, result in specific cancer cell destruction. To provide a more directional tumor-volume and cell-specific targeting we propose a compact neutron generator integrated with a spectral- and volume-shaping delivery optic to direct thermal neutrons to the pons inside the body with minimal invasiveness. The ratio of the boron delivered to the cancer cells vs that taken up by healthy cells increases the cancer cell death by roughly the same ratio, permitting increased dose to the cancer.