Non-uniform depth scanning for proton therapy systems employing active energy variation

In proton scanning systems that employ active energy variation for depth modulation, a switch of the particle energy might typically require 1-2 s. For plans comprising many energy slices, these seconds could sum up to a non-negligible fraction of the total treatment duration. We have applied the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem to determine an efficient spatial arrangement of Bragg peaks in a target volume. This pre-determined schedule of increasing energy spacing with higher energy allows us to reduce the number of used energy slices without compromising the physical dosimetric quality of a plan. Our results suggest that the advantage of such a simple implementation would be especially significant for larger, deep-seated tumors such as the prostate; the number of energy slices was cut by a factor of 2-6.