Optimal Configuration of Proton-Therapy Accelerators for Relative-Stopping-Power Resolution in Proton Computed Tomography

The determination of relative stopping power (RSP) via proton computed tomography (pCT) of a patient is dependent in part on the knowledge of the incoming proton kinetic energies; the uncertainty in these energies is in turn determined by the proton source—typically a cyclotron. Here, we show that reducing the incident proton beam energy spread may significantly improve RSP determination in pCT. We demonstrate that the reduction of beam energy spread from the typical 1.0% (at 70 MeV) down to 0.2% can be achieved at the proton currents needed for imaging at the Paul Scherrer Institut 250-MeV cyclotron. Through a simulated pCT imaging system, we find that this effect results in RSP resolutions as low as 0.2% for materials such as cortical bone, up to 1% for lung tissue. Several materials offer further improvement when the beam (residual) energy is also chosen such that the detection mechanisms used provide the optimal RSP resolution.