Nuclear Energy and Technology (Mar 2019)
Optimization of two opposing neutron beams parameters in dynamical (B/Gd) neutron cancer therapy
Abstract
Read online Read online Read online
We demonstrate how the therapeutic utility index and the ballistic index for dynamical neutron cancer therapy (NCT) with two opposing neutron beams form a nonlinear optimization problem. In this problem, the modulation frequencies ω and ϖ of the beams and the relative time advance ε are the control variables. A Pareto optimal control vector ω* = (ω*, ϖ*, ε*) for this problem is identified and reported for the first time. The utility index is shown to be remarkably periodically discontinuous in ε, even in the neighborhood of ε*.