Proton beam therapy (PBT) has gone through several stages along the path of its development: experimental studies and the accumulation of clinical data, then, starting in 1990, the construction of clinical multi-room PBT centers, which after 2011 was supplemented by the development of single-room complexes. The clinical results accumulated to date in a number of cases show that there is no alternative to PBT for the treatment of a number of oncological diseases, which suggests the feasibility of developing both multi-room and specialized single-room PBT complexes. The review is devoted to the role of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” in the development of PBT in Russia, namely, the development of two PBT complexes as part of the creation of the Scientific and Educational Medical Center for Nuclear Medicine of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute.”

Data are presented on ligands based on bombesin derivatives, which are peptides that specifically bind to gastrin-releasing factor receptors, that are promising for use in nuclear medicine. An analysis of developments related to the creation of radiopharmaceuticals (RPs) based on gastrin-releasing peptide-receptor agonists for radionuclide diagnostics and systemic radiation therapy is carried out. The stages of pharmaceutical development of the first Russian RPs 68 Ga-NOTA-AMBA and 177 Lu-DOTA-AMBA are described, including the synthesis technology using automated modules, as well as drug specifications.

The article presents the main capabilities and characteristic features of a digital system for dose-anatomical planning of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) by the on through-method with a narrow proton beam of SC-1000 having an energy of 1 GeV. The development overcomes the shortcomings of technical solutions that existed in the PNPI and determines the vector of further development of SRS.

The structure of solid solutions, or quasi-binary compounds, cubic ZnSxSe1-x single crystals doped by 3d-ions M (M = V, Cr, Fe, Ni; M content was equal to 0.001; 0 <= x <= 1) was investigated by thermal neutron diffraction. The revealed diffuse scattering effects illustrate the pronounced interplay between two the strongest destabilizing influences, which can coexist in the sphalerite crystal structure of II - VI compounds diluted by magnetic 3d-ions. Disturbance of the host crystal lattice going from doped Jahn-Teller 3d-ions leading to a tendency to form superstructures. The structure instabilities of the solid solution matrices came from high degree polymorphism being especially intrinsic for ZnS, can result in anomalous enlarging of shear atomic displacement amplitudes along the directions of minimum of interatomic distances corresponding to the <110> crystallographic directions.

An oncological-ophthalmological complex of proton-beam therapy based on the C-80 cyclotron is being created at Konstantinov St. Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics, National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute.” An analysis of publications devoted to the issues of quality control of specialized systems with a fixed proton beam direction in the horizontal plane for solving the problems of proton-beam therapy for patients with oncological-ophthalmological diseases is carried out. The analysis shows that since there are fewer than twenty such centers in the world, data on the frequency and content of quality-control tests for such installations is extremely contradictory. Quality-control tests based on the AAPM TG 224 protocol, supplemented by tests specific to proton oncology-ophthalmology, are presented. The levels of permissible deviations for various tests are developed on the basis of published data and technical-design data. These parameters will be included in the specialized software being created for quality control, which will allow data to be obtained on various parameters of all subsystems of the complex.

It is generally accepted that a proton therapy is one of the most effective method of external beam radiotherapy. Proton therapy has the highest conformal factor even compared with the most modern facilities for radiotherapy which use electron beam or gamma rays. Accuracy of combination of the 90–95 % isodose surface with PTV is better and dose gradients outside PTV is steeper, also integral dose of radiation from proton therapy for a healthy tissue is less than two times that for gamma irradiation. We can clearly see it comparing a HDV of treatment plan for gamma irradiation and proton therapy for the same clinical cases. In last years a lifespan of patient after radiotherapy treatment is a quit extended, so a question for quality of life for them is more significant. Decreasing of integral dose for a healthy tissue reduces a chance of negative effects from radiotherapy that would mostly appear after a lot years after treatment, so named late side effects. Quality of life is even more important in the case of pediatric oncology, when we not only expect a long healthy life for them, but also have aim to exclude side effects from their development. There was a long term clinical investigation in 1954–1990 years in ten experimental centers (among them clinical data: 50% in USA, 30% in USSR/Russia) that had confirmed the described advantages of proton therapy. These clinical results formed a foundation of quick development proton therapy clinical centers in developed countries in 1990s. These centers are based on oncology and multidisciplinary hospitals and treat 1000 and more patients per year. There are 96 working and 38 constructing PTCs in the world for today. Although we have a lot of experience in proton therapy in Russia, we didn’t take part in this new stage. In fact a patient treatment was over in all of three experimental PTCs (Moscow, Dubna, St. Petersburg) up to 2014. Thus we have a delay in a development of proton therapy for 30 years from a world level. Government of the Russian Federation Decree № 287 of 16th March 2020 establishes Program, which has to overcome this delay in development. Main science executer of the Program is National Research Center «Kurchatov Institute», which has an experience, scientific potential and competence for it. The main aims, stages and objects of the Program are presented.

An integral part of the modern oncology service is the high-tech equipment based on nuclear physics methods. An interdisciplinary approach to the development of nuclear medicine and radiotherapy in Russia’s healthcare will improve not only the access to nuclear and accelerator technologies in our country, but also their efficiency and safety. Here, we review the role of the National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute” (NRC KI) in the development of nuclear physics methods used in medicine, as well as new opportunities and prospects opened up by the creation of the Scientific and Educational Nuclear Medicine Center, NRC KI. The structure and main engineering characteristics of five developed medical radiology complexes, including a radionuclide production complex and four hadron radiation therapy complexes, are considered in detail.

The real structure of Zn1-хCoхSe (x=0.01; 0.15) volume cubic crystals was characterized by thermal neutrons scattering method. Characteristics of resulting micro strain fields formed by atomic displacements were obtained from analyses of tangential and radial profile scans of the structure peaks measured on investigated crystals. Indications of initial lattice destabilizations revealed in both crystals demonstrate that the character of the structure distortions is quality changed by increasing of Co-impurity content from extreme small amount to close to solubility limit level. In particular, growing probability of substructure crystallites appeared from reaching of high-level doping is accompanied by strain-tensions emerged on the whole volume of crystal.

AbstractA detailed neutronographic study of the bulk ZnSe crystals doped with vanadium up to the content commensurate with the solubility limit in a semiconductor matrix has been carried out for the first time at room temperature. The data that characterize nonuniformly-deformed states based on the cubic structural modification of the II–VI compounds are obtained. A simplified analysis of the broadening patterns of the diffraction profiles of main Bragg reflexes of the studied crystals shows that the resulting deformation covers macroscopic volumes, and the distribution of vanadium ions in the given cases may significantly deviate from the uniform distribution over volume. Relative to the initial cubic lattice, dominating trends towards symmetry changes preceding the phase stratification in the ZnSe crystals heavily doped with vanadium are revealed.

AbstractThe systematic new formations observed in the reciprocal lattice of the cubic structural modification of a II–VI compound are characterized using a detailed neutron diffraction study of bulk semiconducting ZnSe crystals with an increased vanadium content. Direct evidence that the additional sites k = (1/3 1/3 1/3) 2π/ a ( k is the wave vector and a is cubic unit cell parameter) observed by neutron scattering in the crystals, in the case when they belong to mutually penetrated rotated sublattices, contain a superstructure contribution formed by short-wave deformation, is obtained for the first time. This structure state is determined as a pretransition to the concentration fcc–hcp phase transformation, and the basis functions that allow one to analyze atomic displacements, the correlation between which create distortion-type superstructures, are indicated for the transition through one-arm channel, considering the transitions by the star of wave vector k _5 of the fcc lattice.

Doping of A(II)B(VI) semiconductor matrices by 3d-ions possessing a non-spherical symmetry of 3d electron shells even in small concentrations causes the Jahn-Teller effect and results in a strong destabilization of the initial crystal structure. In the present work, diffuse scattering of thermal neutrons in the vicinity of intensive Bragg reflections at T=300 K are studied in details on bulk cubic crystal matrices of binary compounds - diluted magnetic semiconductors Zn0.9Ni0.1,S, Zn0.95Fe0.05Se, and Zn0.99V0.01Se. The data of neutronographic measurements of structure reflections scanned in tangential directions are analyzed in terms of local deteriorations of the structure arising from local non-uniform damages of the initial crystal lattice. It is shown that the neutron diffuse scattering patterns from single crystals of zinc chalcogenides heavily doped by a 3d-impurity reflect the statistics, characteristics of which determine the directions of polarization caused by disordered shear atomic displacements. Taking into account the long-range character of electronic-type deformation produced by foreign 3d-ions in the semiconductor matrice, a comparison of the presented data to neutronographic results obtained on crystals of the same binary compounds at substantially smaller levels of doping allows one to conclude that the crystallographic anisotropy of dimensions of distorted nanovolumes observed at small amounts of the destabilizing impurity changes to the polarization anisotropy of displacements at the increasing impurity concentration. The results of fitting of neutron diffuse scattering patterns obtained from zinc-chalcogenide crystals heavily doped by 3d-ions generating additional destructive effects in the initial instable real structure of "pure" binary semiconductors become the characteristics of damage degree of crystallographic planes of initial lattice.

Profiled Al2O3 single crystals grown by Stepanov's method to obtain anion-deficient composition were characterized by neutron diffraction at T=300 K for the first time. Whereas the main structure motif of investigated crystals is checked to be of corundum-type, the scattering pictures of as-grown crystal demonstrate pronounced anomalies being probably indications on substructure forming. However, neutron scanning of synthesised crystal taken after annealing under restoring conditions reveals additional effects associated with displacement type superstructure.

Fine features of the crystal structure of Zn0.9Ni0.1S, Zn0.9V0.1Se, Zn0.95Fe0.05Se semiconductor cubic single crystals have been characterized by neutron scattering at room temperature. It has been revealed that neutron-diffraction scans of the single crystals, in addition to intense Bragg reflections of face-centered cubic phase, contain a complex system of diffuse scattering maxima, included superstructure reflections. The superstructure diffuse maxima are found placed on reciprocal lattice knots corresponding with the wave vectors q = (1/3 1/3 1/3) 2π/ac (ac is the cubic lattice parameter), which is interpreted as a manifestation of pretransition state. It is proposed that the revealed destabilized structure state means pretransition of reconstructive structure transformation from the cubic phase to the hexagonal phase. Strong perturbations caused by 3d ions doping lead to a collective response of the cubic lattice of the II-VI matrices, displacing atomic planes in shears, and tend to induce the transformation. Such a complicated structure state determines nonuniform deformation field supporting possibilities to form long-wave superstructures. (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)