Method of assembly and whole body, patient positioning and repositioning support for use in radiation beam therapy systems

A whole-body patient positioning and repositioning support for fixedly securing a patient in an original position during radiation treatment and for repositioning the patient to the same original position for subsequent radiation treatments, the support comprising:

• a rigid, longitudinally extending base member for support on a moveable transport, the base member having a transverse slightly concave top surface;
• a relatively thin, longitudinally extending shell releasably secured to and supported by the base member with a transverse convex bottom of the shell nested in the concave top of the base member and a concave top surface of the shell exposed to receive a liner;
• a thin flexible liner overlying the shell;
• a rigid foam between and bonded to the shell and the liner and comprising a mold conforming exactly to a side of the patient for securely holding the patient in the original position during radiation treatments;
• and
• a grid of radio-opaque members carried by the support for generating a registration grid on X-rays of the patient on the support for use in evaluation and adjusting the position of the patient on the support.

A method of assembling a whole body patient positioning support for use in radiation diagnosis and treatment, the method comprising the steps of:

• placing a thin, longitudinally extending, shell on a longitudinally extending, rigid base member with a transverse convex bottom surface of the shell nested in a transverse concave top surface of the base member and a transverse concave top surface of the shell exposed to receive a liner;
• interlocking the shell and base with interlocking means;
• applying a foaming agent to the top surface of the shell and under a liner overlying the shell;
• and
• positioning a patient on the liner while the foam expands and hardens to complete a whole body mold for a bottom side of the patient.

A method of assembling a whole body patient positioning support for use in radiation diagnosis and treatment, the method comprising the steps of:

• securing a thin, longitudinally extending shell to a longitudinally extending, rigid base member with a transverse convex bottom surface of the shell nested in a transverse concave top surface of the base member and a transverse concave top surface of the shell exposed to receive a liner;
• applying a foaming agent to the top surface of the shell and under a liner overlying the shell;
• positioning a patient on the liner while the foam expands and hardens to complete a whole body mold for a bottom side of the patient;
• and
• covering a portion of the patient's body to receive radiation treatment with a top cover having a thin outer concave top shell, a top liner and a rigid foam between the top shell and top liner conforming to the top body shape of the body portion to receive radiation treatment.