The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory has arranged for the University Medical Center at Stony Brook to be a collaborating institution in continuing clinical trials of an experimental treatment for brain tumors.
Life expectancy is limited, with fewer than three percent of patients surviving beyond five years.
At present, Brookhaven Lab is the only location in the U.S. where researchers are conducting clinical trials of BNCT on brain tumors. Brookhaven began a multi-patient clinical trial of BNCT in February of this year, with Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City as the sole collaborating institution. The University Medical Center at Stony Brook will be the second collaborating institution. A Radiation Therapy In BNCT, a compound containing the element boron is administered intravenously to the patient, in whom it accumulates preferentially in malignant tumor tissue. The tumor is then irradiated with neutrons produced by a nuclear reactor.