A conducting plastic simulating brain tissue

A new conducting plastic has been composed which accurately simulates the p hoton and neutron absorption properties of brain tissue. This tissue-equiva lent (TE) plastic was formulated to match the hydrogen and nitrogen constit uents recommended by ICRU Report #44 for brain tissue. Its development was initiated by the inability of muscle tissue-equivalent plastic to closely a pproximate brain tissue with respect to low-energy neutron interactions. Th is new plastic is particularly useful as an electrode in TE dosimetry devic es for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), which utilizes low-energy neut rons for radiotherapy of the brain, Absorbed dose measurements in a clinica l BNCT beam using a proportional counter constructed from this TE plastic s how good agreement with Monte Carlo calculations. (C) 2000 American Associa tion of Physicists in Medicine. [S0094-2405(00)02211-2].