System and method for proton therapy treatment planning with proton energy and spot optimization

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention disclose methods and systems for proton therapy planning that includes proton energy and spot optimization that discretizes layers and spots using an optimization algorithm to produce an optimal distribution of layer energies and spots with a relatively smooth dose distribution. The treatment planning algorithms disclosed herein can freely choose the number of spots and the energy levels of the spots. In this way, each spot can be treated as its own layer and is not constrained by the requirements of other spots/layers. Thereafter, the spots defined by the algorithm can be sorted in a list according to energy levels/depth, and the spots can be grouped into blocks according to intensity and location. The blocks can be assigned energy levels based on the corresponding spots, such as an average of all the spots associated with the block. The blocks then are used as the energy layers applied by the proton therapy treatment system.