Patent ID: 8511314

Claim:
A patient support arrangement comprising: a pad configured to be placed on a tiltable medical procedure table; said pad having a length sufficient to extend from about at least the thighs of a patient to about at least the shoulders of a patient to support the torso of a patient placed on said pad; said pad comprising a deformable material; said deformable material being configured to be deformable by the torso of a patient to form a depression in said pad, which depression provides a substantial portion of the holding forces which hold a patient generally in a desired position on said pad upon the medical procedure table being tilted at an angle and thus the torso of a patient being tilted at an angle with respect to the horizontal, such that: a) the head of the patient is disposed lower than the torso of the patient, or b) the head of the patient is disposed higher than the torso of the patient, or c) the right side of the patient is disposed higher than the left side of the patient, or d) the left side of the patient is disposed higher than the right side of the patient, or e) a combination of any of a), b), c), and d); said deformable material has a rate of recovery sufficiently slow to maintain a depression in said pad for a desired period of time upon a change in a depression-generating force on said pad; and said pad is configured to distribute pressure forces across a substantial portion of the torso of a patient in contact with said pad to minimize injuries generated by concentration of pressure forces on at least one portion of the torso of the patient in contact with said pad during a medical procedure.