Full depth laser ophthalmic surgical system, methods of calibrating the surgical system and treatment methods using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12178754-B2
Application number	US-202217937763-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2022
Priority date	Aug 2, 2018
Publication date	Dec 31, 2024
Grant date	Dec 31, 2024

Abstract

A full depth ophthalmic surgical system includes a femtosecond laser source and an optical coherence tomographer. The system is capable of performing surgical procedures along the entire length of the eye from the cornea to the retina. The optical system of the ophthalmic surgical system is optimized to focus the laser beam and imaging light in the vitreous humor of the eye. In some embodiments, the system includes a video camera with a tunable lens before it to image the entire length of the eye. For procedures performed posterior to the lens, a method for calibrating the full depth ophthalmic surgical system is also provided. The system can be used to perform treatment in the vitreous humor, including treating floaters and liquification of the vitreous humor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A full depth ophthalmic surgical system for performing surgery on an eye of a subject, comprising:
a femtosecond laser source configured to produce a femtosecond pulsed laser beam;
an imaging assembly configured to emit an imaging beam;
a scanning assembly including a Z scanner and an XY scanner, configured to scan a focal spot of the laser beam and the imaging beam within the eye in a depth direction and two transverse directions, respectively;
an illumination light source configured to emit an illumination light;
a video camera assembly, including a detector and a tunable lens in front of the detector;
an objective lens assembly configured to focus the laser beam and the imaging beam;
a patient interface configured to be coupled to the objective lens assembly and to engage the eye, the patient interface including a lens having a predefined optical power; and
optical components including at least one beam splitter, configured to direct the laser beam and the imaging beam output by the scanning assembly and the illumination light to the objective lens assembly, and to direct light emitted from within the eye, which has passed through the objective lens assembly, to the video camera assembly;
wherein the scanning assembly, the objective lens assembly and the lens of the patient interface are configured to form the focal spot of the laser beam at any and all depths within a range of 15 mm to 24 mm in water beyond a distal surface of the lens of the patient interface, and
wherein the tunable lens is configured to cooperate with the objective lens assembly and the lens of the patient interface to focus light emitted from any and all distances within a range of 8 mm to 29 mm in water beyond the distal surface of the lens of the patient interface onto the detector to produce images of any and all tissues of the eye from an iris to a retina, including regions of a vitreous humor, on the detector.

2. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the illumination light source is a ring-shaped light source.

3. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 2 , wherein the objective lens assembly and the lens of the patient interface are configured to form an image of the illumination light source at locations 0 to 10 mm from a distal surface of the lens of the patient interface.

4. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the objective lens assembly includes four doublet lenses and a meniscus lens.

5. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging assembly comprises an optical coherence tomographer, a Purkinje imaging assembly, or a Scheimpflug imaging assembly.

6. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , further comprising a fixation light source configured to generate a fixation light, wherein the optical components are further configured to direct the fixation light to the objective lens assembly.

7. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the XY scanner includes two scanning mirrors, and wherein the objective lens assembly and the lens of the patient interface are configured to form respective images of the two scanning mirrors at locations 0 to 10 mm from a distal surface of the focusing lens of the patient interface.

8. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller operably connected to the laser source, the imaging assembly, the scanning assembly, and the video camera assembly and programmed to:
operate the imaging assembly to form images of structures within a vitreous humor of the eye;
identify outer boundaries of a treatment volume located in the vitreous humor based on the images;
define a scan pattern for scanning the focal spot of the laser beam within the treatment volume; and
operate the scanning assembly to scan the focal spot of the laser beam in the treatment volume in the vitreous humor according to the scan pattern to liquify the vitreous humor in the treatment volume.

9. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller operably connected to the laser source, the imaging assembly, the scanning assembly, and the video camera assembly and programmed to:
operate the imaging assembly or the video camera assembly to form images of structures in a vitreous humor of the eye;
identify floaters located in the vitreous humor based on the images;
define a treatment volume within the vitreous humor that includes the identified floaters;
define a scan pattern for scanning the focal spot of the laser beam within the treatment volume; and
operate the scanning assembly to scan the focal spot of the laser beam in the treatment volume in the vitreous humor according to the scan pattern to destroy or remove the floaters.

10. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the tunable lens has a tunable range of −10D to +10D.

11. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , further comprising a programmed controller operably connected to and controlling the tunable lens of the video camera assembly.

Assignees

• Amo Dev Llc

Inventors

• Wang Jenny
• Wang Tianheng
• Dewey David
• Wiltberger Michael
• Vankov Alexander
• Gooding Phillip
• Schuele Georg

Classifications

• A61F9/00814

  Laser features or special beam parameters therefor · CPC title

• A61F2009/00874

  Vitreous · CPC title

• A61F2009/00851

  Optical coherence topography [OCT] · CPC title

• A61F9/009

  Auxiliary devices making contact with the eyeball and coupling in laser light, {e.g. goniolenses (apparatus for eye examination A61B3/0008)} · CPC title

• A61F9/0084 Primary

  Laser features or special beam parameters therefor · CPC title