Photocoagulation apparatus
First Claim
1. A laser photocoagulator including a laser system and a viewing system, characterized in that the laser system includes a first solid state laser diode and at least one further solid state laser diode, said laser diodes operating in the infrared range, said laser system further including means for combining the infrared light produced by said laser diodes, and wherein said viewing system and said laser system have in common a dichroic beam splitter which, in use, separates infrared light from visible light, said viewing system and said laser system sharing a substantially common light path between said dichroic beam splitter and the eye of a patient, whereby the clinician may view a patient'"'"'s eye through the beam splitter substantially without risk of exposure to the infrared light used for treatment, the photocoagulator further including an alignment system incorporating a visible light source, the visible light source comprising a solid state laser diode which provides coherent light having a wavelength in the visible range.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a photocoagulator using an infrared laser diode source (70). A dichroic beam splitter (68) is used to combine the optical path of the laser system with the viewing system. Such an arrangement affords the clinician an uninterupted, uncolor view of the patient'"'"'s eye during treatment, without any risk of damage to the clinician'"'"'s eye. There is also provided an alignment system using a visible laser diode (80). The alignment system may include a number of mutually non parallel beams which pass through different portions of the pupil and provide information on aim, focus and vignetting.
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Citations
26 Claims
- 1. A laser photocoagulator including a laser system and a viewing system, characterized in that the laser system includes a first solid state laser diode and at least one further solid state laser diode, said laser diodes operating in the infrared range, said laser system further including means for combining the infrared light produced by said laser diodes, and wherein said viewing system and said laser system have in common a dichroic beam splitter which, in use, separates infrared light from visible light, said viewing system and said laser system sharing a substantially common light path between said dichroic beam splitter and the eye of a patient, whereby the clinician may view a patient'"'"'s eye through the beam splitter substantially without risk of exposure to the infrared light used for treatment, the photocoagulator further including an alignment system incorporating a visible light source, the visible light source comprising a solid state laser diode which provides coherent light having a wavelength in the visible range.
- 20. A laser photocoagulator including a laser system and a viewing system, wherein the laser system includes a solid state laser diode which operates in the infrared range, and said viewing system and said laser system have in common a dichroic beam splitter which, in use, separates infrared light from visible light, said viewing system and said laser system sharing a substantially common light path between said dichroic beam splitter and the eye of a patient, whereby the clinician may view a patient'"'"'s eye through the beam splitter substantially without risk of exposure to the infrared laser light used for treatment, the photocoagulator further comprising an alignment system, said alignment system including a visible light source and means for generating a plurality of non-parallel beams of visible light which are incident on the retina of the patient'"'"'s eye, said means for generating said plural beams of visible light comprising an apertured target positioned to be illuminated by the visible light from said source and at least one split field screen, said beams of visible light being caused to pass through different portions of the pupil of the patient'"'"'s eye such that if said photocoagulator is misaligned with the iris of the patient'"'"'s eye at least one of the beams of visible light will be at least partly blocked by the iris, and the pattern of visible light produced on the retina by the incident visible light will provide an indication of whether or not the infrared laser light from the laser diode is focused on the retina.
Specification