System and method for ophthalmic surface measurements based on objective quality estimation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9510747-B2
Application number	US-201313796513-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 12, 2013
Priority date	Nov 30, 2011
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

Systems and methods for measuring a topography of an optical tissue surface of an eye are provided by combining a measured elevation of the surface with a priori information of the surface to provide an estimate of mean and covariance of post-measurement orthogonal polynomial sequence amplitudes associated with the surface, determining a variance of elevation of the surface from the estimate, and constructing the topography from the estimate of mean and covariance of post-measurement amplitudes based on a comparison of the variance of elevation of the surface with a pre-determined threshold. The a priori information includes an estimate of mean and covariance of pre-measurement orthogonal polynomial sequence amplitudes associated with the surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of evaluating a topography of a corneal surface of an eye of a patient, the method comprising:
measuring a topography elevation field for the patient eye corneal surface;
determining a measured Zernike amplitude profile for the patient eye based on the topography elevation field;
combining the measured Zernike amplitude profile with a priori corneal surface information to provide an estimated Zernike amplitude profile and an estimated Zernike amplitude covariance matrix for the patient eye, the a priori corneal surface information comprising mean and covariance Zernike amplitude profiles associated with multiple corneal surfaces of a general population;
constructing a corneal topography map for the patient based on the estimated Zernike amplitude profile;
constructing a corneal topography uncertainty map for the patient based on the estimated Zernike covariance matrix; and
evaluating the patient corneal surface topography based on the corneal topography map and the corneal uncertainty map.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measured Zernike amplitude profile for the patient eye is determined by decomposing the topography elevation field of the patient eye corneal surface into a Zernike series representation.

3. The method according to claim 1 , where the a priori corneal surface information is obtained by:
acquiring individual topography elevation fields corresponding respectively to individual eyes of the general population;
decomposing the individual topography elevation fields into corresponding Zernike series representations;
evaluating a mean and a variance of amplitudes of the Zernike series representations; and
preparing the a priori information from the mean and the variance of amplitudes of the Zernike series representations.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the combining step comprises inputting the a priori information into a Kalman-Bucy filter together with the measured Zernike amplitude profile.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the inputting step comprises applying the Kalman-Bucy filter according to:
A k =A k (prior) +{circumflex over (K)}·{{right arrow over (H)}−Ĝ·A k (prior) }
{circumflex over (M)}={circumflex over (K)}·{Î−{circumflex over (K)}Ĝ}·{circumflex over (M)} (prior)
wherein A k corresponds to the estimated Zernike amplitude profile for the patient eye, A k (prior) corresponds to the a priori mean Zernike amplitude profile associated with the multiple general population corneal surfaces, {circumflex over (K)} represents a Kalman-Bucy gain, {right arrow over (H)} corresponds to a vector of the measured elevation field for the patient eye corneal surface, and Ĝ is an operator of surface reconstruction from the Zernike amplitudes, and
wherein {circumflex over (M)} corresponds to the estimated Zernike amplitude covariance matrix for the patient eye, Î is a unitary matrix, and {circumflex over (M)} (prior) corresponds to the a priori covariance Zernike amplitude profile associated with the multiple general population corneal surfaces.

6. A method of planning a refractive correction treatment for an eye of a patient, the method comprising:
obtaining a measured Zernike amplitude profile for the patient eye, the measured Zernike amplitude profile based on a measured topography elevation field for a corneal surface of the patient eye;
combining the measured Zernike amplitude profile with a priori corneal surface information to provide an estimated Zernike amplitude profile and an estimated Zernike amplitude covariance matrix for the patient eye, the a priori corneal surface information comprising a mean and covariance Zernike amplitude profiles associated with multiple corneal surfaces of a general population;
constructing a corneal topography uncertainty map for the patient based on the estimated Zernike covariance matrix;
constructing a corneal topography map for the patient based on the estimated Zernike amplitude profile and the corneal topography uncertainty map;
determining ablation properties locally across the corneal surface of the patient eye based on the corneal topography map; and
formulating a treatment plan using the ablation properties by adjusting a first virtual ablation shape to form a second virtual ablation shape, the first virtual shape representing a depth of material to be removed from a treatment area to form a desired shape, the second virtual shape being formed from the first virtual shape in response to the corneal topography map.

7. A method of treating a cornea of a patient eye with a laser beam, the method comprising:
obtaining a measured Zernike amplitude profile for the patient eye, the measured Zernike amplitude profile based on a measured topography elevation field for a corneal surface of the patient eye;
combining the measured Zernike amplitude profile with a priori corneal surface information to provide an estimated Zernike amplitude profile and an estimated Zernike amplitude covariance matrix for the patient eye, the a priori corneal surface information comprising mean and covariance Zernike amplitude profiles associated with multiple corneal surfaces of a general population;
constructing a corneal topography uncertainty map for the patient based on the estimated Zernike covariance matrix;
constructing a corneal topography map for the patient based on the estimated Zernike amplitude profile and the corneal topography uncertainty map;
mapping angles between the corneal surface and the laser beam over a treatment area;
determining ablation properties locally across the treatment area in response to the mapped angles;
formulating a treatment plan using the ablation properties by adjusting a first virtual ablation shape to form a second virtual ablation shape, the first virtual shape representing a depth of material to be removed from the treatment area to form a desired shape, the second virtual shape being formed from the first virtual shape in response to the mapped angles; and
ablating the treatment area according to the treatment plan to form the desired shape in the corneal surface.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the desired shape is based at least in part on a result of a measurement selected from the group consisting of an aberration measurement of the eye, a refractive measurement of the eye, and a topography measurement of the eye.

9. A system for treating a corneal surface of a patient eye with a laser beam, the eye having a refractive defect, wherein a desired refractive correcting shape mitigates the refractive defect, the system comprising:
a laser emitting a beam of an ablative light energy; and
at least one processor coupled to the laser beam and having a computer program, the computer program embodying instructions for:
combining a measured Zernike amplitude profile for the patient eye with a priori corneal surface information to provide an estimated Zernike amplitude profile and an estimated Zernike amplitude covariance matrix for the patient eye, the a priori corneal surface information comprising mean and covariance Zernike amplitude profiles associated with multiple corneal surfaces of a general population, and the measured Zernike amplitude profile for the patient eye based on a measured topography elevation field of the patient eye corneal surface;
constructing a corneal topography uncertainty map for the patient based on the estimated Zernike covariance matrix;
constructing a corneal topography map for the patient based on the estimated Zernike amplitude profile and the corneal topography uncertainty map;
determining ablation properties locally across the corneal surface of the patient eye based on the corneal topography map;
formul

Assignees

• Amo Dev Llc

Inventors

• Fabrikant Anatoly

Classifications

• A61F2009/00872

  Cornea · CPC title

• A61B3/107

  for determining the shape or measuring the curvature of the cornea · CPC title

• A61F2009/00882

  based on topography · CPC title

• A61B5/1077

  Measuring of profiles · CPC title

• A61F9/00806

  Correction of higher orders · CPC title