[en] Equipment for positioning and supporting patients during tomographic X-ray mammography is described. It is comprised of a table and fabric slings which permit the examination of a downward, pendant breast of a prone patient by allowing the breast to pass through an aperture in the table into a fluid filled container. The fluid has an X-ray absorption coefficient similar to that of soft human tissue allowing high density resolution radiography and permitting accurate detection of breast tumours. The shape of the equipment and the positioning of the patient allow the detector and X-ray source to rotate 360⁰ about a vertical axis through the breast. This permits the use of relatively simple image reconstruction algorithms and a divergent X-ray geometry with multiple detectors. Successive planes of the breast are scanned by translating the detectors and source vertically to produce a three-dimensional image of the breast tissue structure. (U.K.)