Otal, A., Celada, F., Chimeno, J., Vijande, J., Pellejero, S., Perez-Calatayud, M. J., et al. (2022). Review on Treatment Planning Systems for Cervix Brachytherapy (Interventional Radiotherapy): Some Desirable and Convenient Practical Aspects to Be Implemented from Radiation Oncologist and Medical Physics Perspectives. Cancers, 14(14), 3467–15pp.
Abstract: Simple Summary There are no brachytherapy treatment planning systems (TPS) exclusively for the treatment of cervical tumours, so general-purpose TPSs are used. However, these treatments have some particular features concerning the treatment of other pathologies, especially in the case of exclusive use of MRI as an imaging modality and the presence of gynaecological applicators in combination with an interstitial part. That is why it is essential to review the latest versions of commercial TPSs to find the potential features to improve with the help of a group of experimented medical physicists and radiation oncologists. Furthermore, after reviewing the recent literature for advances applicable to cervical brachytherapy and through his own clinical experience, possible improvements are proposed to software providers for the development of new tools. Intracavitary brachytherapy (BT, Interventional Radiotherapy, IRT), plays an essential role in the curative intent of locally advanced cervical cancer, for which the conventional approach involves external beam radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy followed by BT. This work aims to review the different methodologies used by commercially available treatment planning systems (TPSs) in exclusive magnetic resonance imaging-based (MRI) cervix BT with interstitial component treatments. Practical aspects and improvements to be implemented into the TPSs are discussed. This review is based on the clinical expertise of a group of radiation oncologists and medical physicists and on interactive demos provided by the software manufacturers. The TPS versions considered include all the new tools currently in development for future commercial releases. The specialists from the supplier companies were asked to propose solutions to some of the challenges often encountered in a clinical environment through a questionnaire. The results include not only such answers but also comments by the authors that, in their opinion, could help solve the challenges covered in these questions. This study summarizes the possibilities offered nowadays by commercial TPSs, highlighting the absence of some useful tools that would notably improve the planning of MR-based interstitial component cervix brachytherapy.
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Garonna, A., Amaldi, U., Bonomi, R., Campo, D., Degiovanni, A., Garlasche, M., et al. (2010). Cyclinac medical accelerators using pulsed C6+/H-2(+) ion sources. J. Instrum., 5, C09004–19pp.
Abstract: Charged particle therapy, or so-called hadrontherapy, is developing very rapidly. There is large pressure on the scientific community to deliver dedicated accelerators, providing the best possible treatment modalities at the lowest cost. In this context, the Italian research Foundation TERA is developing fast-cycling accelerators, dubbed 'cyclinacs'. These are a combination of a cyclotron (accelerating ions to a fixed initial energy) followed by a high gradient linac boosting the ions energy up to the maximum needed for medical therapy. The linac is powered by many independently controlled klystrons to vary the beam energy from one pulse to the next. This accelerator is best suited to treat moving organs with a 4D multipainting spot scanning technique. A dual proton/carbon ion cyclinac is here presented. It consists of an Electron Beam Ion Source, a superconducting isochronous cyclotron and a high-gradient linac. All these machines are pulsed at high repetition rate (100-400 Hz). The source should deliver both C6+ and H-2(+) ions in short pulses (1.5 μs flat-top) and with sufficient intensity (at least 10(8) fully stripped carbon ions per pulse at 300 Hz). The cyclotron accelerates the ions to 120 MeV/u. It features a compact design (with superconducting coils) and a low power consumption. The linac has a novel C-band high-gradient structure and accelerates the ions to variable energies up to 400 MeV/u. High RF frequencies lead to power consumptions which are much lower than the ones of synchrotrons for the same ion extraction energy. This work is part of a collaboration with the CLIC group, which is working at CERN on high-gradient electron-positron colliders.
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Krzysiek, M. et al, Gadea, A., Huyuk, T., & Barrientos, D. (2014). Study of the soft dipole modes in Ce-140 via inelastic scattering of O-17. Phys. Scr., 89(5), 054016–6pp.
Abstract: The main aim of this study was a deeper understanding of the nuclear structure properties of the soft dipole modes in Ce-140, excited via inelastic scattering of weakly bound O-17 projectiles. An important aim was to investigate the 'splitting' of the PDR into two parts: a low-energy isoscalar component dominated by neutron-skin oscillations and a higher-energy component lying on the tail of the giant dipole resonance of a rather isovector character. This was already observed for this nucleus, investigated in (alpha, alpha') and (gamma,gamma') experiments. The experiment was performed at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy. Inelastic scattering of O-17 ion beam at 20 MeV A(-1) was used to excite the resonance modes in the Ce-140 target. Gamma-rays were registered by five triple clusters of AGATA-Demonstrator and nine large volume scintillators (LaBr3). The scattered O-17 ions were identified by two Delta E – E Si telescopes of the TRACE array mounted inside the scattering chamber. The telescopes consisted of two segmented Si-pad detectors, each of 60 pixels. Very preliminary data have shown a strong domination of the E1 transitions in the 'pygmy' region with a character more similar to the one obtained in alpha scattering experiment.
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NEXT Collaboration(Navarro, K. E. et al), Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Lopez, F., Lopez-March, N., Martin-Albo, J., et al. (2023). A compact dication source for Ba2+ tagging and heavy metal ion sensor development. J. Instrum., 18(7), P07044–19pp.
Abstract: We present a tunable metal ion beam that delivers controllable ion currents in the picoamp range for testing of dry-phase ion sensors. Ion beams are formed by sequential atomic evaporation and single or multiple electron impact ionization, followed by acceleration into a sensing region. Controllability of the ionic charge state is achieved through tuning of electrode potentials that influence the retention time in the ionization region. Barium, lead, and cadmium samples have been used to test the system, with ion currents identified and quantified using a quadrupole mass analyzer. Realization of a clean Ba2+ ion beam within a bench-top system represents an important technical advance toward the development and characterization of barium tagging systems for neutrinoless double beta decay searches in xenon gas. This system also provides a testbed for investigation of novel ion sensing methodologies for environmental assay applications, with dication beams of Pb2+ and Cd2+ also demonstrated for this purpose.
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Vague, J., Melgarejo, J. C., Boria, V. E., Guglielmi, M., Moreno, R., Reglero, M., et al. (2019). Experimental Validation of Multipactor Effect for Ferrite Materials Used in L- and S-Band Nonreciprocal Microwave Components. IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., 67(6), 2151–2161.
Abstract: This paper reports on the experimental measurement of power threshold levels for the multipactor effect between samples of ferrite material typically used in the practical implementation of L-and S-band circulators and isolators. For this purposes, a new family of wideband, nonreciprocal rectangular waveguide structures loaded with ferrites has been designed with a full-wave electromagnetic simulation tool. The design also includes the required magnetostatic field biasing circuits. The multipactor breakdown power levels have also been predicted with an accurate electron tracking code using measured values for the secondary electron yield (SEY) coefficient. The measured results agree well with simulations, thereby fully validating the experimental campaign.
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