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Oliver-Cañamas, L., Rovira-Escutia, J. J., Vijande, J., Candela-Juan, C., Gimeno-Olmos, J., Pujades-Claumarchirant, M. C., et al. (2024). A system for mailed dosimetric audits of 192 Ir and 60 Co HDR brachytherapy combining OSLD and radiochromic film. Radiat. Meas., 173, 107101–8pp.
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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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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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Richard, J. M., Valcarce, A., & Vijande, J. (2020). Hall-Post inequalities: Review and application to molecules and tetraquarks. Ann. Phys., 412, 168009–32pp.
Abstract: A review is presented of the Hall-Post inequalities that give lower-bounds to the ground-state energy of quantum systems in terms of energies of smaller systems. New applications are given for systems experiencing both a static source and inner interactions, as well as for hydrogen-like molecules and for tetraquarks in some quark models. In the latter case, the Hall-Post inequalities constrain the possibility of deeply-bound exotic mesons below the threshold for dissociation into two quark-antiquark mesons. We also emphasize the usefulness of the Hall-Post bounds in terms of 3-body energies when some 2-body subsystems are ill defined or do not support any bound state.
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Fernandez-Carames, T., Valcarce, A., & Vijande, J. (2011). Doubly charmed exotic mesons: A gift of nature? Phys. Lett. B, 699(4), 291–295.
Abstract: We study doubly charmed exotic states by solving the scattering problem of two D mesons. Our results point to the existence of a stable isoscalar doubly charmed meson with quantum numbers (I)J(P) = (0)1(+). We perform a thorough comparison to the results obtained within the hyperspherical harmonic formalism. Such exotic states could be measured at LHC and RHIC. Their experimental observation would, for the first time, confirm the contribution of multiquark structures to hadron spectroscopy.
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