A patient positioning system for the ESRF medical imaging facility

The medical imaging facility of the ESRF is devoted to human coronary angiography, computed tomography, diffraction enhanced imaging (DEI), bronchography, and also radiation therapy programs. Most of the imaging is performed in a satellite building located at 150 m from the wiggler source (H. Elleaume et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 428 (1999) 513). A multi-purpose device known as the Patient Positioning System (PPS or medical chair) has been designed to perform in different modes of research on patients. This device operates in the angiography mode, with alternating up and down movements in 1.6 s cycles over a period of about 30 s. The tomography mode is used mainly for the imaging of the brain. It consists of turning the patient around an axis perfectly perpendicular to the beam plane. A dual-energy scan involves two rotations with one image recorded each turn at a different energy (Phys. Med. Biol. 45 (2000) L39). The first angiography imaging on patients was undertaken in January 2000 after successful pre-clinical tests on animals. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.