Improvement of Statistics in Proton Beam Range Measurement by Merging Prompt Gamma Distributions: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Background: To monitor proton beam in proton therapy, prompt gamma imaging systems are being developed by several research groups, and these systems are expected to improve the quality of the treatment and the patient safety. To apply the prompt gamma imaging systems into spot scanning proton therapy, the systems should be able to monitor the proton beam range of a spot with a small number of protons ( <108 protons), which is quite often not the case due to insufficient prompt gamma statistics.