Purpose: Quasi-discrete scannig is a delivery strategy for proton and ion beam therapy in which the beam is turned off when a slice is finished and a new energy must be set, but not during the scanning between consecutive spots. Different scanning paths lead to different dose distributions due to the contribution of the unintended transit dose between spots. In this work an algorithm to optimize the scanning path for quasi-discrete scanned beams is presented.Methods: The classical simulated annealing algorithm is used. It is a heuristic algorithm frequently used in combinatorial optimization problems, which allows to obtain nearly optimal solutions in acceptable running times.Results: A study focused on the best choice of operational parameters on which the algorithm performance depends is presented. The convergence properties of the algorithm have been further improved by using the next-neighbour algorithm to generate the starting paths. Conclusions: The algorithm implemented for this work can optimize efficiently the scanning path of quasi-discrete scanned particle beams. Optimized scanning paths decrease the transit dose and lead to better dose distributions.
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