Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. An irradiation treatment apparatus comprising:a patient support surface;a rotation mechanism;a patient securing mechanism arranged to secure a patient in a fixed relation to said patient support surface;a platform in communication with said patient support surface and said rotation mechanism and arranged to rotate said patient support surface about a generally vertical axis;an imager exhibiting a window and a first mode in which said imager occludes radiation from a fixed beam irradiation source when said window is closed and a second mode in which said imager enables irradiation from the fixed beam irradiation source when said window is open;a vertical translation mechanism in communication with said patient support surface and arranged to translate said patient support surface along said generally vertical axis from a loading position to an irradiation position; anda control unit in communication with said imager, said control unit operative to:set said imager to said first mode;translate said patient support system vertically through said imager via said vertical translation mechanism, andoperate said imager to thereby image a section of the patient. 2. An irradiation treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said imager in said second mode is operative to perform intra-treatment imaging. 3. An irradiation treatment apparatus according claim 1, wherein said imager is arranged to perform computerized tomography. 4. An irradiation treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said vertical translation mechanism is coupled to said platform thereby in said communication with said patient support surface. 5. An irradiation treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a horizontal translation mechanism coupled to said platform, said horizontal translation mechanism operative to translate said patient support surface along a pair of orthogonal axes perpendicular to said generally vertical axis. 6. An irradiation treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said irradiation position aligns a target tissue of the secured patient with a beam of radiation ultimately exiting a fixed beam irradiation source. 7. An irradiation treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said imaging of said section at least partially provides for treatment planning. 8. An irradiation treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fixed beam radiation source. 9. An irradiation treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said patient support surface is generally vertical. 10. An irradiation treatment apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said generally vertical patient support surface exhibits a chair mode in which the spine of the patient is generally secured vertically by said generally vertical patient support surface. 11. A method comprising:securing a patient to a patient support surface;vertically translating the secured patient so as to approximately align a target tissue of the secured patient with an treatment irradiation beam ultimately exiting a fixed beam irradiation source;rotating the secured patient about a generally vertical axis so as to approximately present the target tissue to the treatment irradiation beam ultimately exiting the fixed beam irradiation source at a first desired angle;providing an imager exhibiting a window and a first mode in which said provided imager occludes radiation from a fixed beam irradiation source when said window is closed and a second mode in which said provided imager enables irradiation from the fixed beam irradiation source when said window is open;setting said provided imager to said first mode;translating said patient support surface vertically through said provided imager via said vertical translation mechanism thereby imaging, via said imager in said first mode, said target tissue aligned with the treatment irradiation beam ultimately exiting the fixed beam irradiation source;setting said imager to said second mode; andirradiating the target tissue from said fixed beam irradiation source at said first desired angle. 12. A method according to claim 11, further comprising subsequent to said imaging said target tissue, at least one of:finely vertically translating, responsive to said imaging, the secured patient so as to align the target tissue of the secured patient with the treatment irradiation beam ultimately exiting a fixed beam irradiation source at said first desired angle; andfinely rotating the secured patient about the generally vertical axis, responsive to said imaging, so as to present the target tissue to the treatment irradiation beam ultimately exiting the fixed beam irradiation source at said first desired angle. 13. A method according to claim 11, further comprising prior to said irradiating, translating a source of irradiation along a longitudinal axis of the ultimate radiation beam, so as to achieve a desired distance between the fixed beam irradiation source and said target tissue. 14. A method according to claim 11, wherein the imager is arranged to perform computerized tomography. 15. A method according claim 11, wherein said securing the patient to a patient support surface is in one of a standing and a sitting position. 16. A method according to claim 11, further comprising subsequent to said irradiating at said first desired angle:rotating about a generally vertical axis, and translating about a plane orthogonal to said generally vertical axis, the secured patient so as to approximately present the target tissue to the treatment irradiation beam ultimately exiting the fixed beam irradiation source at a second desired angle;setting the imager to said first mode;imaging, via said imager, said target tissue aligned with the treatment irradiation beam ultimately exiting the fixed beam irradiation source;setting said imager to said second mode; andirradiating the target tissue from said fixed beam irradiation source at said second desired angle.