Patent ID: 7796730

Claim:
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; and a 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, and operate said imager to thereby image a section of the patient.