The application of a xenon gamma spectrometer for neutron capture therapy

One of the key challenges in neutron capture therapy (NCT) remains minimizing the impact on healthy tissues and ensuring precise control of dose distribution, making the study of new detectors resistant to thermal neutron flux highly relevant. The use of gamma spectrometers in NCT allows for the assessment of patient dose exposure by detecting 478 keV gamma rays emitted from nuclear reaction products. While scintillation and semiconductor spectrometers are widely used in NCT, they exhibit low radiation resistance to neutron fluxes. This paper explores the feasibility of using a xenon gamma spectrometer (XGS) based on a cylindrical ionization chamber filled with xenon at 40 atm pressure for dose evaluation in NCT. As part of this study, the neutron capture therapy process was simulated using the GEANT4, and an experiment was conducted in which thermal neutrons were generated by a neutron generator.