Ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9724236-B2
Application number	US-201113073256-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2011
Priority date	Mar 31, 2010
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

An ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus, comprising: an emitted treatment laser beam; an emitted aiming beam; an irradiation unit including a zoom lens and a scanner for scanning in two dimensions, and being arranged to irradiate both beams to the eye; an irradiation pattern setting unit including a switch for setting an irradiation pattern in which a plurality of spots is arranged; and a controller for controlling the aiming beam based on the set pattern during aiming before irradiation of the treatment beam, the controller being configured to divide the spots in the set pattern into two or more groups and switch the positions of the spots of the aiming beam at a predetermined time interval in each group to irradiate the aiming beam so that the irradiation spots of the aiming beam in a group before switching and another group after switching are not recognized simultaneously by an operator.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus for treating a patient's eye, comprising:
a treatment laser source configured to emit a treatment laser beam;
an aiming light source configured to emit an aiming beam;
an irradiation unit that includes a scanner configured to scan a plurality of irradiation spots formed of at least one of the treatment beam and the aiming beam,
the scanner being arranged to scan the irradiation spots in two dimensions, the scanner scanning each irradiation spot for a first time interval between consecutive spots, and
the irradiation unit being arranged to irradiate the treatment beam and the aiming beam to the patient's eye;

an irradiation pattern setting unit configured to set one irradiation pattern from a plurality of irradiation patterns, each irradiation pattern representing an arrangement of the irradiation spots;
a trigger signal input unit configured to input a trigger signal to start irradiation of the treatment beam; and
a controller configured to:
control the treatment laser source, the aiming light source, and the scanner,
cause the set irradiation pattern to be divided into at least a first group and a second group that each represents a distinct small irradiation pattern, the small irradiation patterns of the first and second groups, when combined together, constitute the irradiation spots of the set irradiation pattern such that irradiation spots of the first group are interlaced with irradiation spots of the second group,
cause sequential irradiation of the aiming beam to tissue of the patient's eye so that an operator is able to observe the irradiation spots of the first group,
cause the sequential irradiation of the aiming beam to the tissue so that the operator is able to observe the irradiation spots of the second group,
cause the sequential irradiation of the aiming beam to the tissue so that (i) the first and second groups are alternatively and repeatedly irradiated, the scanner scanning each group for a second time interval between consecutive groups, the second time interval different from the first time interval, (ii) the operator is able to observe the tissue to be irradiated by the second group when the first group is irradiated, and (iii) the operator is able to observe the tissue to be irradiated by the first group when the second group is irradiated, and
cause sequential irradiation of the treatment laser beam to the tissue, to produce a corresponding set irradiation pattern, based on the trigger signal,

spatial frequencies of the irradiation spots of the first group that are unique to the first group are greater than a spatial frequency of the irradiation spots of the second group that are unique to the second group, and
when the irradiation pattern setting unit sets the irradiation pattern so that the irradiation spots are arranged in a 3×3 square matrix, the controller causes the sequential irradiation of the aiming beam to the tissue so that (i) four corners of the set irradiation pattern in both the first and second groups are irradiated, (ii) regions of the irradiation pattern other than the four corners are alternately irradiated in the first and second groups, and (iii) the operator is able to observe the treatment area in the regions of the irradiation pattern other than the four corners while continuously observing the irradiation at the four corners.

2. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
when the irradiation pattern setting unit sets the irradiation pattern so that the irradiation spots are arranged in three or more lines, the controller causes the irradiation spots in the set irradiation pattern to be divided into the first and second groups so that the irradiation spots of the first group are not arranged in the same lines as the irradiation spots of the second group.

3. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the small irradiation patterns of the first and second groups include irradiation spots at four corners of the set irradiation pattern.

4. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
when the irradiation pattern setting unit sets the irradiation pattern so that the irradiation spots are arranged in a 5×5 square matrix, the controller causes the irradiation spots in the set irradiation pattern to be divided so that (i) the first group consists of irradiation spots arranged in first, third, and fifth lateral lines and (ii) the second group consists of irradiation spots arranged in second and fourth lateral lines and irradiation spots at four corners of the set irradiation pattern;
when the irradiation pattern setting unit sets the irradiation pattern so that the irradiation spots are arranged in a 4×4 square matrix, the controller causes the irradiation spots in the set irradiation pattern to be divided so that (i) the first group consists of irradiation spots arranged in first and fourth lateral lines and (ii) the second group consists of irradiation spots at the four corners; and
when the irradiation pattern setting unit sets the irradiation pattern so that the irradiation spots are arranged in a 3×3 square matrix, the controller causes the irradiation spots in the set irradiation pattern to be divided so that (i) the first group consists of irradiation spots arranged in first and third lateral lines and (ii) the second group consists of irradiation spots arranged in a second lateral line and irradiation spots at the four corners.

5. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
when the irradiation pattern setting unit sets the irradiation pattern so that the irradiation spots are arranged in a 2×2 square matrix, the controller causes the irradiation spots in the set irradiation pattern to be divided so that (i) the first group consists of two spots and (ii) the second group consists of two spots that are different from those of the first group.

6. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
when the irradiation pattern setting unit sets the irradiation pattern so that the irradiation spots are arranged in a linear form, the controller causes the irradiation spots in the set irradiation pattern to be divided so that both the first and second groups include (i) irradiation spots at both ends of the set irradiation pattern and (ii) different irradiation spots between the both ends.

7. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second time interval is set in a range of 0.1 to 3.0 seconds.

8. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the second time interval is set in a range of 0.1 to 0.3 seconds.

9. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control emission of the aiming beam from the aiming light source based on the set irradiation pattern.

10. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the irradiation unit includes a shutter for blocking the irradiation of the aiming beam to the patient's eye, and
the controller is configured to control opening and closing of the shutter, based on the set irradiation pattern, to control the irradiation of the aiming beam.

11. The ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a selector configured to select a mode to irradiate the aiming beam so that the operator is able to simultaneously observe the irradiation spots constituting the set irradiation pattern;
wherein, when the mode is selected, the controller controls a driving speed of the scanner so that (i) the irradiation spots constituting the set irr

Assignees

• Abe Hitoshi
• Nidek Kk

Inventors

• Abe Hitoshi

Classifications

• A61F2009/00897

  Scanning mechanisms or algorithms · CPC title

• A61F9/00821 Primary

  for coagulation · CPC title

• A61F2009/00863

  Retina · CPC title