Calculation and assessment of CENDL-3.2 kerma factors for boron neutron capture therapy

Abstract: [Objective] To assess CENDL-3.2 kinetic energy released per unit mass (KERMA) factors for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) dose calculation.
[Methods] Using TOPAS and a track-length estimator, we compared CENDL-3.2 with four evaluated libraries in homogeneous soft-tissue and patient CT phantoms under fixed source and transport settings.
[Results] Compared with ENDF/B-VIII.1, advantage and therapeutic depths differed by less than 0.004 cm, and the mean biologically weighted tumor dose at the same irradiation time was 0.039% lower. Including phosphorus, potassium, and calcium increased the relative difference in mean physical bone dose rate from +0.046% to +10.78%.
[Limitations] The comparison used one beam and one patient CT phantom. The CENDL-3.2 evaluations for ³¹P and natural potassium lack photon production data.
[Conclusions] The results support using CENDL-3.2 KERMA factors for the major elements in BNCT dose calculations under the conditions studied.