2024 PROGRAM
Thursday October 24, 2024
16:00 CET (10:00 ET)
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Dr. Kazuyo Igawa, Neutron Therapy Research Center, Okayama University
Biographies:
After obtaining the dental license at Tohoku University and PhD at the University of Tokyo, she has been aiming at minimally invasive treatment for the head and neck region. She studied clinical maxillofacial surgery and bone regeneration research at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden for two years. After returning to Japan, she was involved in clinical research of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for head and neck cancer, and contributed to the establishment of the world's first BNCT hospital in 2014 as Medical Director of BNCT Research Center at Southern Tohoku General Hospital. In 2017, the Neutron Therapy Research Center was established at Okayama University, and the research and education for neutron medicine have been promoted. Then Okayama university was designated as the IAEA Collaborating Center in the field of BNCT in 2022, and are hosting an IAEA training course on BNCT in the summer of 2023. She also has been contributing to BNCT as a board member of the International Society for Neutron Capture Therapy since 2024.
Abstract:
Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) differs from conventional cancer radiotherapy in that it causes minimal damage to normal cells, can be given as a single dose, and allows early return to society, and can be given even after radiation therapy such as X- rays, proton beams, and heavy particle beams, including BNCT. In cancer treatment, it is required to provide sufficient information on the prognosis of cancer treatment, treatment effects and side effects, and to determine a treatment plan based on the patient's wishes regarding survival period and quality of life (QOL). Due to the development of accelerator-based neutron source for BNCT, In Japan, BNCT for unresectable locally advanced or locally recurrent head and neck cancer has been covered by insurance since June 2020 at the Southern Tohoku BNCT Research Center (Fukushima Prefecture) and the Kansai BNCT Joint Medical Center (Osaka Prefecture), the first two facilities in the world. Now the four hospitals have installed BNCT systems and the clinical trials or studies trials have been performed for other type of cancers. In the world, more than 30 accelerator based BNCT projects have been initiated in 15 countries, and clinical studies are ongoing in China, and Korea. In this webinar, I will report on the progress of accelerator based clinical BNCT systems for sustainable quality of life in the world.