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Oliver, S., Vijande, J., Tejedor-Aguilar, N., Miro, R., Rovira-Escutia, J. J., Ballester, F., et al. (2023). Monte Carlo flattening filter design to high energy intraoperative electron beam homogenization. Radiat. Phys. Chem., 212, 111102–6pp.
Abstract: Intraoperative radiotherapy using mobile linear accelerators is used for a wide variety of malignancies. However, when large fields are used in combination with high energies, a deterioration of the flatness dose profile is measured with respect to smaller fields and lower energies. Indeed, for the LIAC HWL of Sordina, this deterioration is observed for the 12 MeV beam combined with 10 cm (or larger) diameter applicator. Aimed to solve this problem, a flattening filter has been designed and validated evaluating the feasibility of its usage at the upper part of the applicator. The design of the filter was based on Monte Carlo simulations because of its accuracy in modeling components of clinical devices, among other purposes. The LIAC 10 cm diameter applicator was modeled and simulated independently by two different research groups using two different MC codes, reproducing the heterogeneity of the 12 MeV energy beam. Then, an iterative process of filter design was carried out. Finally, the MC designed conical filter with the optimal size and height to obtain the desired flattened beam was built in-house using a 3D printer. During the experimental validation of the applicator-filter, percentage depth dose, beam profiles, absolute and peripheral dose measurements were performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the filter addition in the applicator. These measurements conclude that the beam has been flattened, from 5.9% with the standard configuration to 1.6% for the configuration with the filter, without significant increase of the peripheral dose. Consequently, the new filter-applicator LIAC configuration can be used also in a conventional surgery room. A reduction of 16% of the output dose and a reduction of 1.1 mm in the D50 of the percentage depth dose was measured with respect to the original configuration. This work is a proof-of-concept that demonstrates that it is possible to add a filter able to flatten the beam delivered by the Sordina LIAC HWL. Future studies will focus on more refined technical solutions fully compatible with the integrity of the applicator, including its sterilization, to be safely introduced in the clinical practice.
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Barrientos, L., Borja-Lloret, M., Casana, J. V., Hueso-Gonzalez, F., Ros, A., Roser, J., et al. (2023). System characterization and performance studies with MACACO III Compton camera. Radiat. Phys. Chem., 208, 110922–13pp.
Abstract: The IRIS group of IFIC-Valencia has developed a Compton camera prototype. The system detectors are made of Lanthanum (III) bromide scintillator crystals coupled to silicon photomultipliers. Two models of silicon photomultipliers arrays with different micro pixel pitch (25 and 50 μm) have been chosen as possible candidates to improve the response of the new system. Characterization studies with a 22Na point-like source have indicated that the 25 μm photodetector provided better performance in terms of energy resolution (5.2% FWHM at 511 keV) and angular resolution (6.9 degrees FWHM at 1275 keV), and more stability with temperature variations. In addition, MACACO III imaging capabilities have been assessed using a structure composed of thirty-seven 22Na point-like sources. Furthermore, in order to evaluate possible ways of improving the system performance, several studies have been carried out by means of simulations both in realistic and performance improved conditions. In this work, the system performance is evaluated for its future application in different areas.
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Viegas, R., Roser, J., Barrientos, L., Borja-Lloret, M., Casaña, J. V., Lopez, J. G., et al. (2023). Characterization of a Compton camera based on the TOFPET2 ASIC. Radiat. Phys. Chem., 202, 110507–11pp.
Abstract: The use of Compton cameras for medical imaging and its interest as a hadron therapy treatment monitoring has increased in the last decade with the development of silicon photomultipliers. MACACOp is a Compton camera prototype designed and assembled at the IRIS group of IFIC-Valencia. This Compton camera is based on monolithic Lanthanum (III) Bromide crystals and silicon photomultipliers, and employs the novel TOFPET2 ASIC as readout electronics. This system emerged as an alternative to MACACO II prototype, with the aim of improving its limited time resolution. To test the performance of the ASIC in a Compton camera setup, the prototype was characterized, both in laboratory and in-beam. A time resolution of 1.5 ns was obtained after time corrections, which improves greatly the performance of the MACACO II. Moreover, the results obtained at high photon energies demonstrate the ability of the system to obtain 1 mm displacements of the reconstructed spots. The results reinforce the potential of the system as a monitoring device for hadron therapy.
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Perez-Calatayud, J., Ballester, F., Tedgren, C., DeWerd, L. A., Papagiannis, P., Rivard, M. J., et al. (2022). GEC-ESTRO ACROP recommendations on calibration and traceability of HE HDR-PDR photon-emitting brachytherapy sources at the hospital level. Radiother. Oncol., 176, 108–117.
Abstract: The vast majority of radiotherapy departments in Europe using brachytherapy (BT) perform temporary implants of high-or pulsed-dose rate (HDR-PDR) sources with photon energies higher than 50 keV. Such techniques are successfully applied to diverse pathologies and clinical scenarios. These recommen-dations are the result of Working Package 21 (WP-21) initiated within the BRAchytherapy PHYsics Quality Assurance System (BRAPHYQS) GEC-ESTRO working group with a focus on HDR-PDR source cal-ibration. They provide guidance on the calibration of such sources, including practical aspects and issues not specifically accounted for in well-accepted societal recommendations, complementing the BRAPHYQS WP-18 Report dedicated to low energy BT photon emitting sources (seeds). The aim of this report is to provide a European-wide standard in HDR-PDR BT source calibration at the hospital level to maintain high quality patient treatments.
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Jungclaus, A., Doornenbal, P., Acosta, J., Vaquero, V., Browne, F., Cortes, M. L., et al. (2024). Position of the single-particle 3/2- state in 135Sn and the N = 90 subshell closure. Phys. Lett. B, 851, 138561–5pp.
Abstract: The decay of excited states of the nucleus Sn-135, with three neutrons outside the doubly-magic Sn-132 core, was studied in an experiment performed at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory at RIKEN. Several gamma rays emitted from excited Sn-135 ions were observed following one-neutron and one-neutron-one-proton removal from Sn-136 and Sb-137 beams, respectively, on a beryllium target at relativistic energies. Based on the analogy to 133Sn populated via one-neutron removal from Sn-134, an excitation energy of 695(15) keV is assigned to the 3/2(-) state with strongest single-particle character in 135Sn. This result provides the first direct information about the evolution of the neutron shell structure beyond N = 82 and thus allows for a crucial test of shellmodel calculations in this region. The experimental findings are in full agreement with calculations performed employing microscopic effective two-body interactions derived from CD-Bonn and N3LO nucleon-nucleon potentials, which do not predict a pronounced subshell gap at neutron number N=90. The occurrence of such a gap in Sn-140, i.e., when the 1f(7/2) orbital is completely filled, had been proposed in the past, in analogy to the magicity of Ca-48, featuring a completely filled 0f(7/2) orbital one harmonic oscillator shell below.
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