Gold-nanoparticle-enriched breast tissue in breast cancer treatment using the INTRABEAM® system: a Monte Carlo study

Using a 50-kV INTRABEAM® system after breast-conserving surgery, breast skin injury and long treatment time remain the challenging problems when large-size spherical applicators are used. This study has aimed to address these problems using gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs). For this, surface and isotropic doses were measured using a Gafchromic EBT3 film and a water phantom. The particle propagation code EGSnrc/Epp was used to score the corresponding doses using a geometry similar to that used in the measurements. The simulation was validated using a gamma index of 2%/2 mm acceptance criterion in the gamma analysis. After validation Au-NP-enriched breast tissue was simulated to quantify any breast skin dose reduction and shortening of treatment time. It turned out that the gamma value deduced for validation of the simulation was in an acceptable range (i.e., less than one). For 20 mg-Au/g-breast tissue, the calculated Dose Enhancement Ratio (DER) of the breast skin was 0.412 and 0.414 using applicators with diameters of 1.5 cm and 5 cm, respectively. The corresponding treatment times were shortened by 72.22% and 72.30% at 20 mg-Au/g-breast tissue concentration, respectively. It is concluded that Au-NP-enriched breast tissue shows significant advantages, such as reducing the radiation dose received by the breast skin as well as shortening the treatment time. Additionally, the DERs were not significantly dependent on the size of the applicators.