Intraocular physiological sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11701019-B2
Application number	US-202016832246-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2020
Priority date	Mar 27, 2019
Publication date	Jul 18, 2023
Grant date	Jul 18, 2023

Abstract

Intraocular physiological sensor implants include a physiological sensor, and a housing comprising a faceplate. The physiological sensor is integrated with the faceplate. The physiological sensor typically comprises an intraocular pressure sensor, such as a capacitive pressure sensor that may further include a flexible diaphragm electrode spaced apart from a counter electrode. The intraocular pressure sensor detects intraocular pressure, to identify patient conditions such as glaucoma.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An intraocular implant comprising:
a physiological sensor;
a housing including a faceplate and a cover, wherein the physiological sensor is integrated with the faceplate, and wherein the housing includes one or more protrusions or grooves to facilitate the flow of aqueous humor around the housing; and
at least one protruding anchor configured to penetrate a trabecular meshwork,
wherein the at least one protruding anchor includes an internal flow pathway.

2. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , wherein the physiological sensor comprises an intraocular pressure sensor.

3. The intraocular implant of claim 2 , wherein the intraocular pressure sensor comprises a capacitive pressure sensor.

4. The intraocular implant of claim 3 , wherein the capacitive pressure sensor comprises a flexible diaphragm electrode spaced apart from a counter electrode.

5. The intraocular implant of claim 4 ,
wherein the faceplate comprises a first substrate bonded to a second substrate, and
wherein the flexible diaphragm electrode comprises at least a portion of the first substrate and the counter electrode comprises at least a portion of the second substrate.

6. The intraocular implant of claim 5 , further comprising:
a first conductive via connected to the flexible diaphragm electrode and extending through the faceplate;
a second conductive via connected to the counter electrode; and
an electrical interconnect circuit connected to the first conductive via and the second conductive via.

7. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , further comprising a coil embedded in an interior surface of the faceplate.

8. The intraocular implant of claim 7 , wherein the coil comprises a conductor provided in a channel formed in the interior surface of the faceplate, the channel being laid out to form a plurality of loops.

9. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , further comprising a stress-relief cutout formed in the faceplate around the physiological sensor.

10. The intraocular implant of claim 9 , wherein the stress-relief cutout comprises a channel that extends partially through the faceplate.

11. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , wherein the faceplate and the physiological sensor are both formed from silicon.

12. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , further comprising a humidity sensor provided inside the housing.

13. The intraocular implant of claim 12 , wherein the humidity sensor comprises a capacitor with a plurality of electrodes and a moisture-sensitive dielectric material.

14. The intraocular implant of claim 13 , wherein the moisture-sensitive dielectric material comprises a getter material.

15. The intraocular implant of claim 13 , further comprising a capacitance-to-digital converter to read the capacitance of the humidity sensor.

16. The intraocular implant of claim 1 ,
wherein the physiological sensor comprises a capacitive sensor, and
wherein a capacitance-to-digital converter is connected to the physiological sensor to read the capacitance of the physiological sensor.

17. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , wherein the physiological sensor comprises a glucose sensor.

18. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises a convex curved surface with a first radius of curvature in a first direction and a second radius of curvature in a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction.

19. The intraocular implant of claim 18 , wherein the first radius of curvature corresponds to a radius of curvature of an iridocorneal angle of a normal human eye in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis of the eye, and the second radius of curvature corresponds to the radius of curvature of the iridocorneal angle in a plane that includes the optical axis of the eye.

20. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , wherein an exterior of the housing is covered in a thin-film atomic layer deposition (ALD) coating.

21. The intraocular implant of claim 20 , wherein the thin-film ALD coating covers a surface of the physiological sensor.

22. The intraocular implant of claim 21 , wherein the thin-film ALD coating further covers a hermetic seal.

23. The intraocular implant of claim 20 , wherein the thin-film ALD coating comprises a multi-layer stack of at least two different materials.

24. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , wherein the physiological sensor is located in a depression formed in an exterior surface of the faceplate.

25. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises at least one anchoring tab that holds the at least one protruding anchor.

26. The intraocular implant of claim 25 ,
wherein the anchoring tab comprises a through-hole, and
wherein the at least one protruding anchor includes a penetrating head at a first end and an elongate body, the elongate body extending through the through-hole of the anchoring tab and having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the through-hole, the penetrating head having a diameter greater than the diameter of the through-hole, wherein a second end of the protruding anchor is deformable.

27. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to take a measurement of a physiological characteristic using the physiological sensor.

28. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , further comprising a controllable switching device connected between a battery and one or more other electrical components, the controllable switching device being configured to fail open.

29. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit measurement data to an external device.

30. The intraocular implant of claim 1 , further comprising a hermetic seal between the faceplate and the cover, the hermetic seal comprising a eutectic solder.

Assignees

• Glaukos Corp

Inventors

• Gunn Nicholas
• Johnson Andrew
• Haffner David S
• Santos Cesario Dos

Classifications

• A61B5/03 Primary

  Measuring fluid pressure within the body other than blood pressure, e.g. cerebral pressure {; Measuring pressure in body tissues or organs (determining bladder or urethral pressure A61B5/205)} · CPC title

• A61B5/0002 Primary

  Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network (endoradiosondes A61B5/07) · CPC title

• A61B5/14532

  for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement · CPC title

• A61B5/6821

  Eye · CPC title

• A61B5/6882

  Anchoring means · CPC title