Evaluation of Hitachi 3D Treatment Planning version 1.6

WERC (Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center) has started the proton cancer therapy since June 2002. We use Hitachi 3D treatment planning (version 1.6) that can calculate the proton dose distribution by use of the pencil beam algorithm as well as the broad beam algorithm practically fast. This treatment planning software satisfies almost functions required in the proton therapy and includes some advanced techniques such as the 3D region glowing function that can search the target region three-dimensionally based on the CT-values. In this paper, we will introduce this planning system and present our evaluation from point of view of both clinical usage and QA.