System and method for generating treatment patterns

Abstract

System and method for generating patterns P of aiming and treatment light on target eye tissue (e.g. the retina) of a patient's eye. The system includes light sources for treatment and aiming light, a scanner for generating patterns of spots of the generated light, a controller, and a graphic user interface that allows the user to select one of several possible spot patterns, adjust the spot density and / or spot size, and apply patterns with fixed or varied density. The patterns can be formed of interlaced sub-patterns and / or scanned without adjacent spots being consecutively formed to reduce localized heating. Partially or fully enclosed exclusion zones within the patterns protect sensitive target tissue from exposure to the light.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 718,762, filed Sep. 19, 2005, and of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 758,169, filed Jan. 10, 2006, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to retinal photocoagulation, and more particularly to a system and method for patterned optical ophthalmic treatment. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Presently, conditions such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration are subject to photocoagulative treatment with visible laser light. While this type of visible laser light treatment halts the progress of the underlying disease, it can be problematic. For example, because the treatment entails exposing the eye to visible laser light for a long period of time (typically on the order of 100 ms), damage can be caused to the patient's sensory retina from the heat that is generated. During the treatment, heat is generated pre...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

While this type of visible laser light treatment halts the progress of the underlying disease, it can be problematic.

For example, because the treatment entails exposing the eye to visible laser light for a long period of time (typically on the order of 100 ms), damage can be caused to the patient's sensory retina from the heat that is generated.

Although light is absorbed in the RPE, this type of treatment irreversibly damages the overlying sensory retina and negatively affects the patient's vision.

Another problem is that some treatments require the application of a large number of laser doses to the retina, which can be tedious and time consuming.

Since some treatments can require hundreds of laser beam spots to evenly treat the target tissue, the overall treatment time can be quite long and require great physician skill to ensure an even and adequate treatment of the entire target tissue area.

However, rapid delivery of multiple beam spots in patterns raises new issues.

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