INTERFACE FORCE FEEDBACK IN A LASER EYE SURGERY SYSTEM

• US 20140128852A1
• Filed: 11/01/2013
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AMO Development LLC (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: OptiMedica Corporation (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Gooding, Phillip, Woodley, Bruce Robert
• Granted Patent: US 10,292,863 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/4
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/008 using laser
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/009 Auxiliary devices making contact with the eyeball and coupling in laser light, e.g. goniolenses apparatus for eye examination A61B3/0008

Abstract

The patient interface may comprise an axis for alignment with an axis of the eye such as an optical axis of the eye. The interface may comprise a guide to allow the interface to move along the axis with the eye, which can inhibit increases in intraocular pressure when the patient is aligned with the laser. The interface may comprise a lock to hold the patient interface at a location along the axis, which can maintain alignment of the patient with the laser eye surgery system. The interface may comprise a plurality of transducers to measure forces to the eye during surgery. The laser eye surgery system can be configured in one or more of many ways to respond to the measured forces. For example, the system may offset the position of laser beam pulses to increase the accuracy of the placement of the beam pulses on the eye.

Claims

1. A laser eye surgery system comprising:

a patient support;

a patient interface for coupling to an eye of a patient, the patient interface comprising an axis alignable with the eye of the patient, the patient interface comprising a plurality of force transducers to monitor forces between the eye of the patient and the patient interface; and

a controller coupled to the patient support to move at least one of the patient support or the patient interface along the axis and transverse to the axis in response to the monitored forces.

2. The laser eye surgery system of claim 1, wherein the patient support comprises a base and a linkage to move the patient support along the axis and transverse to the axis in response to the controller.

3. The laser eye surgery system of claim 2, wherein the patient support comprises a movable patient chair having a patient seating area movable relative to the base.

4. The laser eye surgery system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of force transducers comprises at least three force transducers coupled to the controller.

5. The laser eye surgery system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of force transducers monitors a force between the eye of the patient and the patient interface.

6. The laser eye surgery system of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to receive the force from said each of the plurality of force transducers and determine a force along the axis of the patient interface and a first force in a first direction transverse to the axis and a second force in a second direction transverse to the axis.

7. The laser eye surgery system of claim 6, further comprising a display for displaying the calculated forces along the axis, the first direction and the second direction as a three dimensional vector.

8. The laser eye surgery system of claim 6, wherein the controller embodies instructions of a program to move the patient support along the axis and in the first direction transverse to the axis and the second direction transverse to the axis in response to the calculated forces so as to maintain the forces between the eye of the patient and the patient interface within a desired range.

9. The laser eye surgery system of claim 8, wherein the controller embodies instructions of a program to offset pulses of the laser beam in response to forces of the plurality of transducers.

10. The laser eye surgery system of claim 8, wherein the controller embodies instructions of a program to allow movement of the patient support along the first direction and the second direction transverse to the axis to decrease force to the eye.

11. The laser eye surgery system of claim 1, further comprising a counter-weight coupled to the patient interface to facilitate vertical movement of the patient interface.

12. The laser eye surgery system of claim 1, wherein the axis of the patient interface extends in a vertical direction and wherein the patient interface is adapted to move upward by upward movement of the patient support when the patient is placed on the patient support and the eye of the patient is coupled to the patient interface.

13. The laser eye surgery system of claim 1, further comprising a locking mechanism adapted to lock the vertical position of the patient interface when the patient interface has reached a desired vertical position.

14. The laser eye surgery system of claim 13, wherein the locking mechanism comprises one or more of a detent, a lock and key mechanism, an opening to receive a linear protrusion, a rotating cam, or a flat surface to receive a friction brake.

15. A method of coupling an eye of a patient relative to a patient interface, the method comprising:

placing the patient on a moveable patient support;

coupling the eye of the patient to the patient interface to align an axis of the patient interface with the eye; and

moving at least one of the patient support or the patient interface along the axis with the eye to position the patient interface for surgery.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

tracking a vertical position of the patient interface; and

limiting upward movement of the moveable patient support based on the tracked vertical position of the patient interface.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein coupling the eye to the patient interface comprises coupling a suction ring to the eye and coupling the suction ring to a disposable lens cone coupled to the patient interface.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising locking the patient interface in place once the patient support has reached a desired vertical position.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein limiting upward movement of the moveable patient support comprises preventing further upward movement of the moveable patient support when the patient interface has been locked in place.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising coupling a counter-weight to the patient interface to facilitate the vertical motion of the patient interface.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the lateral movement of the moveable patient support is unrestricted while the upward movement of the moveable patient support is limited.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising tracking a lateral position of the patient interface and limiting lateral movement of the patient support based on the tracked lateral position of the patient interface.

23. A method of stabilizing an eye of a patient relative to a patient interface of a laser eye surgery system, the method comprising:

placing a patient on a top side of a moveable patient support of the laser eye surgery system;

coupling the eye to the patient interface positioned above the eye;

monitoring vertical forces between the patient interface and the eye;

moving at least one of the patient interface or the patient interface with the eye to position the interface and the eye for surgery.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the patient interface moves vertically while maintaining a substantially constant vertical force between the patient interface and the eye.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising displaying the monitored vertical forces on a display coupled to the laser eye surgery system.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein vertically moving the patient support comprises operating a user controlled control element of the laser eye surgery system to vertically move the patient interface based on the displayed vertical forces.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the user controlled control element comprises a joystick.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the user controlled control element comprises a touch screen control panel.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the patient support is automatically moved based on the monitored vertical forces to maintain constant vertical force between the patient interface and the eye.

30. The method of claim 23, further comprising calculating lateral forces between the patient interface and the eye based on the monitored vertical forces.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising laterally moving the patient support to maintain the lateral forces within a desired range.

32. The method of claim 30, further comprising displaying the calculated lateral forces on a display coupled to the laser eye surgery system.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein laterally moving the patient support to keep the lateral forces within a desired range comprises operating a user controlled control element of the laser eye surgery system to laterally move the patient interface based on the displayed lateral forces.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the user controlled control element comprises a joystick.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the user controlled control element comprises a touch screen control panel.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein the patient support is automatically moved based on the calculated lateral forces to keep the lateral forces within a desired range.

37. The method of claim 23, wherein coupling the eye to the patient interface comprises coupling a suction ring to the eye and coupling the suction ring to a disposable lens cone coupled to the patient interface.

38. A method treating an eye of a patient, the method comprising:

placing the patient on a moveable patient support;

coupling the eye to a patient interface of a laser eye surgery system;

measuring forces between the patient interface and the eye;

determining movement of the eye location based on the measured forces and stiffness of the patient interface; and

adjusting laser target locations based on the determined movement.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein determining movement of the eye comprises determining movement of a targeted location of the eye and calculating relative movement of the targeted location of the eye based on stiffness characteristics of the eye.