Radiotherapy apparatus

Abstract

A patient support system comprises a base, an upstanding support, and a couch attached to the support and having a cantilever section extendable beyond the support; the support including a couch drive means to adjust the position of the couch relative to the support; further comprising a support drive means for translationally driving the support relative to the base in the direction of the cantilever section. This removes inaccuracies from patient position measurements that result from changes in the cantilever geometry during movement of the patient from a measuring position to a treatment position. The support drive means can be located in the base or in the support, and allows the patient support system as a whole to be translated, thereby permitting the patient to be moved into and out of an enclosed treatment area without affecting the vertical location of the patient. The only change to the patient position is in the translational position, which can be calibrated by way of fixed end stops for the support drive means. The present invention further relates to a radiotherapy apparatus, comprising a patient support as set out above, and an enclosed treatment area positioned in line with the cantilever section.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.