Method and apparatus for opposing deformity, displacement, and expulsion of the ocular tissues during open eye surgery
First Claim
1. A method for opposing deformity, displacement, and expulsion of ocular tissues during eye surgery of the types in which a cut is present through the ocular wall comprising the steps of:
- (a) generating an air pressure higher than ambient atmospheric pressure in a space outside the eye that bears upon a designated surgical field;
(b) concurrent with step (a), maintaining those surfaces of the eye that lie outside the border of said designated surgical field at ambient atmospheric pressure;
(c) concurrent with steps (a) and (b), stabilizing the eye against the applied pressure; and
(d) concurrent with steps (a), (b), and (c), providing access of the surgeon to the designated surgical field.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Deformity, displacement and expulsion of the ocular tissues during eye surgery of the type in which there is a cut through the ocular wall, is opposed by the method and apparatus of this invention. According to the invention, the external surface of the eye is divided into two areas by defining a line on the external eye wall that forms a closed loop surrounding the sites where incisions through the eye wall are to be made or where cuts through the eye wall have already been made by traumatic injury. Then, according to the invention, air pressure higher than atmospheric is generated, when needed, in a work space outside the eye adjacent to that part of the external eye wall that lies within the closed loop, without compressing the external surfaces of the eye that lie outside the closed loop. The eye is concurrently stabilized against the applied pressure by attachment to a fixation device, usually at points along the line between the pressurized and non-pressurized zones of the external eye wall. In the presence of a cut through the eye wall, pressure above atmospheric in the work space is transmitted to the interior of the eye via the cut.
185 Citations
54 Claims
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1. A method for opposing deformity, displacement, and expulsion of ocular tissues during eye surgery of the types in which a cut is present through the ocular wall comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating an air pressure higher than ambient atmospheric pressure in a space outside the eye that bears upon a designated surgical field; (b) concurrent with step (a), maintaining those surfaces of the eye that lie outside the border of said designated surgical field at ambient atmospheric pressure; (c) concurrent with steps (a) and (b), stabilizing the eye against the applied pressure; and (d) concurrent with steps (a), (b), and (c), providing access of the surgeon to the designated surgical field. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. Apparatus for opposing deformity, displacement, and expulsion of ocular tissures during eye surgery of the types in which a cut is present through the ocular wall comprised of:
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(a) a chamber defining an enclosed air space having an aperture the size of a designated surgical field of the eye; (b) coupling means for attaching the aperture edges to the border of the designated surgical field of the eye; (c) pressurizing means for controlling the level of air pressure at or above atmospheric pressure in the enclosed space; (d) surgical access means for the surgeon, surgical assistants, and instruments to have access to the designated surgical field so that surgery can be performed while the enclosed space is pressurized at or above atmospheric pressure, and for the anesthesiologist to have access to the patient'"'"'s airway which lies outside the pressurized space; (e) eye stabilizing means for supporting the eye against the air pressure on the designated surgical field; (f) eye shielding means for preventing said chamber from indenting that part of the external eye wall lying outside the border of the designated surgical field; and (g) head stabilizing means for preventing movement of the patient'"'"'s head and eye against said chamber, said coupling means, said eye stabilizing means, and said eye shielding means. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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Specification