Patent ID: 7550752

Claim:
A method for delivering a biological dose at a treatment site of a patient, the method comprising the steps of: determining a variability of relative biological effectiveness (RBE) along a line of each of a plurality of hadron beams; calculating RBE values at a plurality of sections of a spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) associated with the treatment site, wherein the calculating takes into account the determined variability; and adjusting an intensity and energy of each of the plurality of hadron beams at each of the plurality of sections of the spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) based on respective calculated RBE values for each of the plurality of sections to provide a calculated dose distribution for each of the plurality of sections, wherein the plurality of sections include a proximal part of SOBP area of the treatment site, a distal part of the SOBP, and a declining distal edge part of the SOBP, and wherein the calculated dose distributions superimpose to provide a desired radiation dose at the treatment site.