Method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling laser-induced tissue treatment

• US 20050154380A1
• Filed: 12/21/2004
• Published: 07/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Solta Medical, Inc. (Bausch Health Cos., Inc.), Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Reliant Technologies, Inc. (Bausch Health Cos., Inc.)
• Inventors: Chan, Kin F., Frangineas, George, DeBenedictis, Leonard C., Myers, Thomas R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,282,060 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/9
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/20 using laser
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/203 applying laser energy to the outside of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/22 the beam being directed along or through a flexible conduit, e.g. an optical fibre; Couplings or hand-pieces therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00057 Light
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00452 Skin
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00904 Automatic detection of target tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/20351 Scanning mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/207 mixing two wavelengths

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and apparatus for controlling light-induced tissue treatment. In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, the invention provides for improved, real-time control of the light beam operational parameters which enables greater safety, efficiency, uniformity and continuity of the treatment process.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlled tissue treatment comprising:

a movable handpiece adapted to receive a light beam and deliver the light beam to an area in tissue to be treated, wherein a tissue treatment depends upon one or more operational parameters of the light beam, and a movement of the handpiece includes a plurality of variable positional parameters such that variation in at least one positional parameter affects the tissue treatment;

a controller operably coupled to the handpiece for controlling the operational parameters in response to the variation in at least one positional parameter; and

a detector configured to calculate variations in at least one of a velocity, distance and position of the handpiece relative to the tissue to be treated;

wherein a contrast-enhancing substance is added to the area to be treated and the controller is configured to controllably adjust in real-time at least one operational parameter to cause at least one of a new treatment rate and a new treatment pattern.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller controllably adjusts in real-time the at least one operational parameter in order to continue a pre-selected tissue treatment.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the handpiece is adapted for continuous movement by an operator'"'"'s hand and wherein the positional parameters are defined by movement of the handpiece relative to the tissue to be treated.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detector is at least one of an accelerometer, an optical detector array, a capacitive sensor array, a profilometer and an optical navigation sensor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a scanning mechanism, wherein the controller is configured to controllably adjust a scan parameter of the scanning mechanism to compensate for a change in the velocity parameter.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the scanning mechanism includes at least one of a galvanometer, a piezoelectric, a mechanical scanning element, a MBMs element, nanotechnology, a rotating mirror, a rotating optical element, a holographic element, a counter-rotating wheel, a diffractive element, and an acousto-optic element.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the scanning mechanism and the controller are configured to cause at least one of an angular beam deviation and a translational beam motion.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light beam has a wavelength in a range between about 700 nm and about 3000 nm, the light beam is pulsed at a frequency in a range less than about 50,000 pulses per second, the light beam has an energy per pulse in a range between about 1 mJ and about 1 J, and the light beam has an optical fluence in a range between about 10 J/cm² and about 1000 J/cm².

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operational parameters for the light beam include a diameter at the tissue surface in a range less than bout 500 microns, a treatment density in a range between about 100 and about 2000 treatment zones per square centimeter per handpiece pass over a given tissue area, and a separation distance between adjacent discrete treatment zones of greater than about 75 microns.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the contrast-enhancing substance includes at least one of a plurality of particles, a suspension, a colloid, an emulsion, a dye and a solution.

11. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the contrast-enhancing substance is applied to a target treatment portion and the target treatment portion is detected by the detector, and wherein the controller and the scanner are configured to cause the light beam to treat only the target treatment portion.

12. A method for delivering a pre-selected tissue treatment comprising the steps of:

applying a contrast-enhancing substance to a tissue to be treated;

emitting at least one light beam from a handpiece towards the tissue to be treated, the light beam having at least one operational parameter affecting a dosage of the pre-selected tissue treatment;

moving the handpiece, wherein the movement of the handpiece is defined by at least one variable positional parameter and that variation in at least one positional parameter affects the dosage of the tissue treatment;

measuring in real-time a variation in at least one positional parameter, wherein the measuring includes detecting the contrast-enhancing substance; and

controllably adjusting in real-time at least one of the operational parameters in response to the variation in at least one positional parameter to adjust a treatment rate in order to continue a pre-selected tissue treatment.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein moving the handpiece comprises continuously moving the handpiece relative to the tissue to be treated for delivering the pre-selected tissue treatment to a plurality of discrete treatment zones in a discontinuous pattern.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein measuring in real-time variations in at least one positional parameters comprises detecting variation in a parameter selected from a group comprising a velocity of the handpiece relative to the tissue to be treated, a speed of the handpiece relative to the tissue to be treated, a distance from the handpiece to the tissue to be treated, and a position of the handpiece relative to the tissue to be treated.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein adjusting in real-time at least one operational parameter comprises modifying a light source of the light beam to adjust at least one parameter selected from a group comprising a power level, a light beam intensity, a pulsation rate, a treatment temperature, and modifying at least one of a position and an angle of a handpiece delivery element.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein controllably adjusting at least one of the operational parameters adjusts the treatment rate whereby the pre-selected tissue treatment can continue at a pre-determined dosage.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein controllably adjusting includes scanning the light beam t avoid blurring a discrete treatment zone.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the contrast-enhancing substance is applied to a target tissue treatment area, and at least one of the operational parameters and the positional parameters are controllably adjusted to cause the light beam to be directed only to the target tissue treatment area.