Patent ID: 8322310

Claim:
An apparatus configured to support, hold and restrain an animal specimen in a fixed prone position within a bore of an imaging machine, comprising: an elongated bed insertable within a bore of an imaging machine, said bed being contoured to tightly and repeatable hold a specimen in a predetermined fixed prone position on said bed, said bed having a front portion and a rear portion, a top portion and an underside portion and having a centrally located longitudinally-extending contoured body groove formed within said top portion for receiving and aligning a specimen along said bed in the same position each time the specimen is placed on the bed; and first and second outer side walls on opposite sides of said centrally located longitudinally extending body groove of said bed, said outer side walls having first and second downwardly-extending leg channels recessed within said top portion and said outer side walls angularly disposed to said centrally located longitudinally extending body groove, said leg channels repeatably positioning, restraining and fixing in a predetermined place on said bed first and second legs of a specimen during handling, mounting and imaging of a specimen within the bore of an imaging machine.