INTRA-SURGICAL OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHIC IMAGING OF CATARACT PROCEDURES

• US 20130158530A1
• Filed: 12/19/2011
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Alcon LenSx, Inc. (Alcon Incorporated)
• Inventors: Goldshleger, Ilya, Holland, Guy, Juhasz, Adam, Kurtz, Ronald M., Vardin, Kostadin
• Granted Patent: US 9,066,784 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/6
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/102 for optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2009/00851 Optical coherence topography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2009/0087 Lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2009/00887 Cataract
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2009/00897 Scanning mechanisms or algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/00825 for photodisruption
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/0084 Laser features or special beam parameters therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10101 Optical tomography; Optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20056 Discrete and fast Fourier transform, [DFT, FFT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30041 Eye; Retina; Ophthalmic
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection

Abstract

A cataract surgical system includes a laser source to generate a first set of laser pulses; a guiding optic to guide the first set of laser pulses to a cataract target region in an eye; a laser controller to generate an electronic representation of a target scan pattern, and to control the guiding optic to scan the first set of laser pulses according to a portion of the target scan pattern to create a first photo-disrupted region in the cataract target region; and a Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomographic (SD-OCT) imaging system to generate an image of a portion of the first photo-disrupted region. The laser controller can generate an electronic representation of a modified scan pattern in relation to the image generated by the SD-OCT imaging system, and control the guiding optic to scan a second set of laser pulses according the modified scan pattern.

Claims

1. A cataract surgical system, comprising:

a laser source, configured to generate a first set of laser pulses;

a guiding optic, coupled to the laser source, configured to guide the first set of laser pulses to a cataract target region in an eye;

a laser controller, configured

to generate an electronic representation of a target scan pattern, and

to control the guiding optic to scan the first set of laser pulses according to a portion of the target scan pattern to create a first photo-disrupted region in the cataract target region; and

a Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomographic (SD-OCT) imaging system, configured to generate an image that includes a portion of the first photo-disrupted region;

wherein

the laser controller is configured

to generate an electronic representation of a modified scan pattern in relation to the image generated by the SD-OCT imaging system, and

to control the guiding optic to scan a second set of laser pulses according the modified scan pattern to create a second photo-disrupted region.

2. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein;

the cataract target region comprises an anterior capsular layer; and

the target scan pattern comprises a set of target points on a cylinder to form at least one of a circular capsulotomy, an anterior capsulotomy, and a curvilinear capsulotomy.

3. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the cataract target region comprises a portion of the lens; and

the target scan pattern comprises a set of target points on at least one of radial chop planes, cylinders, a spiral pattern and a mesh pattern to induce at least one of a chop, a photo-disruption and a lysis of the lens.

4. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to have a z-imaging range greater than 4 mm.

5. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to have a z-imaging range greater than 6 mm.

6. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system does not generate the image of the portion of the first photo-disrupted region by integrating two or more images with imaging ranges less than 4 mm.

7. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate the image in an imaging time less than 1 sec.

8. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate the image in an imaging time less than 0.1 sec.

9. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate repeated images with a frame-rate in the range of 20-200 frames/sec.

10. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate repeated images with a frame-rate in the range of 25-500 frames/sec.

11. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate repeated images with an (x,y) resolution in the range of 500-2,000 A-scans per B-scan.

12. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate repeated images with an (x,y) resolution in the range of 2,000-5,000 A-scans per B-scan.

13. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate repeated images with an image resolution in the range of 0.5-2 million image points per image.

14. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate repeated images with an image resolution in the range of 2-5 million image points per image.

15. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate a B-scan from A-scans comprising image points from at least 1000 z-depths.

16. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate repeated images with a refresh rate in the range of 1-10 frames/sec with a high image resolution in the range of 2-5 million image points.

17. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the laser controller is configured to generate the electronic representation of the modified target scan pattern according to a modification input received from the system operator in response to the system operator having analyzed the image of the portion of the first photo-disrupted region.

18. The cataract surgical laser system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to display calibration marks to assist the system operator to calibrate a location of the first photo-disrupted region relative to the target scan pattern.

19. The cataract surgical system of claim 1, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system includes a Spectrometer-Based-OCT imaging system, comprising;

a broad-band light source to generate a broad-band beam;

a beam guidance system

to split the broad-band beam into an image beam and a reference beam,

to guide the image beam to the eye and to guide a returned image beam from the eye,

to guide the reference beam to a reference mirror and to guide a returned reference beam from the reference mirror, and

to combine the returned image beam and the returned reference beam into a combined beam; and

an OCT camera, configured to receive the combined beam, comprising

a spectral decomposer to decompose the combined beam into spectral components;

a sensor array to sense the spectral components;

a Fast-Fourier-Transformer system to generate a Fourier transform from the sensed spectral components; and

an image generator, to generate an image from the Fourier transformed spectral components.

20. The cataract surgical system of claim 19, the SD-OCT imaging system comprising:

a dedicated Input-Output board configured to output target scan pattern control signals, wherein

the dedicated Input-Output board comprises

a dedicated memory controller

a data buffer; and

an output Digital-Analog Converter; and

the imaging by the SD-OCT imaging system is synchronized with the outputting of the target scan pattern control signals by the output Digital-Analog Converter.

21. A cataract surgical system, comprising:

a laser source, configured to generate a first set of laser pulses;

a guiding optic, coupled to the laser source, configured to guide the first set of laser pulses to a lens of an eye;

a laser controller, configured

to generate an electronic representation of a target scan pattern, and

to control the guiding optic to scan the first set of laser pulses according to the target scan pattern to create a first photo-disrupted region; and

a Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomographic (SS-OCT) imaging system, configured to generate an image of a portion of the first photo-disrupted region;

wherein

the laser controller is configured

to generate an electronic representation of a modified scan patient in relation to the image generated by the SS-OCT imaging system, and

to control the guiding optic to scan a second set of laser pulses according the modified scan pattern to create a second photo-disrupted region.

22. The cataract surgical system of claim 21, the Swept-Source-OCT imaging system comprising:

a swept wavelength light source to generate a swept-wavelength beam;

a beam guidance system, configured

to split the swept-wavelength beam into an image beam and a reference beam,

to guide the image beam to the eye and to guide a returned image beam from the eye,

to guide the reference beam to a reference mirror and to guide a returned reference beam from the reference mirror, and

to combine the returned image beam and the returned reference beam into a combined beam; and

an OCT camera, configured to receive the combined beam, comprising

a detector to detect the combined beam;

a data binner to detect the combined beam as a time sequence of data;

a Fast-Fourier-Transform-system to Fourier transform the detected time sequence of data; and

an image generator to generate an image from the Fourier transform.

23. A cataract surgical system, comprising:

a surgical laser system, configured

to generate a surgical laser beam, and

to guide the generated surgical laser beam into a cataract target region;

a laser controller, configured to scan the surgical laser beam in the cataract target region to create a photo-disrupted region;

a Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomographic (SD-OCT) imaging system, configured to generate an image of the photo-disrupted region for a system operator in a surgical time after the scanning of the surgical laser beam started;

wherein

the laser controller is configured to stop the scanning of the surgical laser beam in response to receiving a stop-control signal from the system operator in response to the generated image.

24. The cataract surgical system of claim 23, wherein:

the SD-OCT imaging system is configured to generate images of the photo-disrupted region at a refresh rate in the range of 20-500 frames/sec.

25. An ophthalmic surgical method, the method comprising;

generating an electronic representation of a target scan pattern for a lens of an eye by a laser controller;

generating and scanning a laser beam in the lens of the eye according to the target scan pattern by a surgical laser system, creating a cut in the lens;

generating an image of a portion of the eye and the cut with a Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomographic imaging system after the scanning of the laser beam started;

generating an electronic representation of a modified scan pattern by the laser controller in relation to the generated image; and

generating and scanning the laser beam in the lens of the eye according to the modified scan pattern by the surgical laser system, creating a modified cut.

26. The ophthalmic surgical method of claim 25, the generating an electronic representation of a modified scan pattern comprising:

receiving a modification input from a system operator in response to the generated image of the portion of the eye.

27. A method of cataract surgery, the method comprising:

controlling a scanning of a laser beam in a lens of an eye by a laser controller;

generating images of a portion of the lens at a rate of at least 5 frames per second by a Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomographie imaging system; and

modifying the scanning of the laser beam by the laser controller in response to an analysis of the generated images.