Patent ID: 8031835

Claim:
A method of imaging a breast of a human, which method comprises: (i) having a patient lie prone on a computer-controlled couch, which comprises a channel or left and right openings for placement and imaging of the breasts; and (ii) repeatedly imaging the breast using an x-ray source and a detector, which are on opposite sides of the couch, while moving the couch down and up, such that the breast moves down and up in the field between the x-ray source and the detector and images of the breast are projected onto the detector; wherein the x-ray source is either a movable x-ray source that scans back and forth along the side of the couch or an array of x-ray sources that fires in a programmed sequence back and forth along the side of the couch, and wherein the detector is movable and moves in synchrony with the movable x-ray source or the firing of the array of x-ray sources, whereupon the breast of a human is imaged.