Ophthalmic surgery system, surgical microscope and method for determining a patient's eye level

Abstract

The ophthalmic surgery system includes a robotic arm positioned above a patient's eye. A positioning camera is disposed on the robotic arm and positioned to visualize the patient's eye. A processor is electrically coupled to the positioning camera. The processor is configured to receive an indication of the position of the robotic arm relative to a fixed reference point, determine a focal distance between the positioning camera and the patient's eye, compare the focal distance to the position of the robotic arm, and determine the patient's eye level relative to the fixed reference point.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for regulating intraocular pressure ("IOP"), and more particularly, but not exclusively, to methods and systems for automatic determination of a patient's eye level relative to a fixed reference point. [Background technology]

[0002] This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

[0003] IOP is an important parameter during ophthalmic surgical interventions, including, for example, refractive surgery, lens replacement surgery, and retinal surgery. During surgical interventions, irrigation fluid is often introduced into a patient's eye. The flow rate and pressure of the irrigation fluid affect the resulting IOP. The flow rate and pressure of the irrigation fluid depend, at least in part, on the vertical position of the patient's eye (commonly referred to as the "patient's eye level"). Therefore, accurate determination of the patient's eye level is necessary to achieve a desired IOP. Current methods for measuring a patient's eye level include manual visualization of the patient's eye by a surgical technician relative to an indicator, such as a mark or line on a surgical instrument. Such methods of determining a patient's eye level are subject to inefficiencies due to parallax and surgical workflow. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to an ophthalmic surgery system. The ophthalmic surgery system includes a robotic arm positioned above a patient's eye. A positioning camera is disposed on the robotic arm and positioned to visualize the patient's eye. A processor is electrically coupled to the positioning camera. The processor is configured to receive an indication of the position of the robotic arm relative to a fixed reference point, determine a focal distance between the positioning camera and the patient's eye, compare the focal distance to the position of the robotic arm, and determine the patient's eye level relative to the fixed reference point.

[0005] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to a surgical microscope. The surgical microscope includes a positioning camera positioned to visualize a patient's eye. An encoder is coupled to the positioning camera. The encoder is configured to determine a position of the positioning camera relative to a fixed reference point. A processor is electrically coupled to the encoder and the positioning camera. The processor is configured to receive an indication of the position of the positioning camera relative to the fixed reference point, determine a focal distance between the positioning camera and the patient's eye, compare the focal distance to a position of a robotic arm, and determine the patient's eye level relative to the fixed reference point.

[0006] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to a method for determining a patient's eye level, the method including: focusing a positioning camera on the patient's eye; determining a position of the positioning camera relative to a fixed reference point; determining a focal distance between the positioning camera and the patient's eye; comparing the focal distance with the positioning camera relative to the fixed reference point to determine the patient's eye level.

[0007] This Summary is provided to introduce selected concepts that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as a guide to limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0008] The present disclosure is best understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures. It is emphasized that, according to standard industry practice, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of various features may be arbitrarily increased or decreased for clarity of discussion. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ophthalmic surgical system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an ophthalmic surgical system in use, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a process for determining a patient's eye level according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Various embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ophthalmic surgical system 100. The system 100 includes surgical equipment 102, a user interface 104, and a surgical microscope 106. In various embodiments, the surgical equipment 102 may include any type of component or machine used in ophthalmic surgical interventions, including, but not limited to, handpieces, pneumatic systems, laser sources, and illumination sources. The surgical equipment 102 may be used in ophthalmic surgical techniques, such as phacoemulsification, vitreoretinal surgery, laser refractive surgery, or any of a variety of other ophthalmic surgical procedures known to those skilled in the art. In various embodiments, the user interface 104 includes any type of keyboard, switch, knob, pedal, button, pointing device, or other suitable component for receiving surgical parameter selections from a user. The surgical microscope 106 may include any type of optical or electronic device or collection of components that provide the surgeon with a view of a patient's eye 112.

[0012] The surgical instrument 102 operates under the control of a processor 108. The surgical instrument 102 also includes a memory 110 capable of storing surgical parameter information. The processor 108 may be any microprocessor, microcontroller, programmable element, or other device or collection of devices for processing instructions for control of the surgical instrument 102. The processor 108 receives parameter selections from the user interface 104 and controls the operation of the surgical parameters accordingly. The processor 108 also monitors the surgical parameters during the ophthalmic surgical intervention. The memory 110 may be any suitable form of volatile or non-volatile information storage accessible by the processor 108, including, for example, optical, electronic, or magnetic media.

[0013] With further reference to FIG. 1 , in various embodiments, the surgical system 100 includes a display device 120. The display device 120 includes any suitable optical or electronic component or collection thereof capable of generating a visually perceptible display of surgical parameters on an image of the patient's eye 112. For example, the display device 120 may project light onto the surface of the patient's eye 112 and generate an image captured by the surgical microscope 106 along with the image of the eye 112. In other embodiments, the display device 120 may project a display into the optical path of the surgical microscope 106 and generate a display on the image of the eye 112. Such embodiments may also allow the display to be focused or magnified along with the image of the eye 112. In other embodiments, the display and the image of the eye may be focused or resized independently. In yet another embodiment, the display device 120 may be incorporated into the eyepiece of the surgical microscope 106. The display device 120 may be configured to communicate with and / or share the processor 108 and / or memory 110 to enable the user to select surgical parameters and adjust the surgical parameter screen based on real-time changes in these parameters during the ophthalmic surgical intervention.

[0014] In some embodiments, the data bus 114, which in the illustrated embodiment is a serial bus, couples the various components of the ophthalmic surgical system 100 together and communicates data therebetween. In typical embodiments, the data bus 114 may include, for example, any combination of hardware, software embodied in a computer-readable medium, or encoded logic embodied in hardware or otherwise stored (e.g., firmware) for coupling the components of the ophthalmic surgical system 100 together. By way of example and not limitation, the data bus 114 may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, a Front Side Bus (FSB), a HyperTransport (HT) interconnect, an InfiniBand interconnect, a Low Pin Count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a MicroChannel Architecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a PCI-Express (PCI-X) bus, a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association Local (VLB) bus, or any other suitable bus, or a combination of two or more thereof. In various embodiments, data buses 114 may include any number, type, or configuration of data buses 114 as desired.

[0015] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an ophthalmic surgical system 100 in use. The ophthalmic surgical system 100 includes a positioning camera 204 mounted on a robotic arm 206. In various embodiments, the robotic arm 206 and the positioning camera 204 are positioned below the surgical microscope 106. In various embodiments, the positioning camera 204 is a 3D stereoscopic camera, although other types of cameras may be used in other embodiments. A processor 108 is electrically coupled to the positioning camera 204 via a data bus 114. The robotic arm 206 is movable, e.g., in vertical translation, horizontal translation, angular movement, and rotational movement. In various embodiments, an encoder 207, e.g., a linear encoder or angular encoder or other similar device, is used to communicate the vertical position of the robotic arm 206 relative to a fixed reference point 216 to the processor 108. In various embodiments, the encoder 207 converts the position of at least one of the robotic arm 206 and the positioning camera 204 into an electrical signal that can be communicated to the processor 108.

[0016] During operation, the positioning camera 204 is positioned above the patient's eye 112. The encoder 207 communicates the position (h) of the robotic arm 206 relative to a fixed reference point 216 to the processor 108. In various embodiments, the fixed reference point 116 may be, for example, the floor of a surgical suite, although in other embodiments, any fixed reference point may be utilized. The positioning camera 204 attempts to focus on the patient's eye 112. The processor 108 determines a focal length (z) between the positioning camera 204 and the eye 112. The processor 108 determines the patient's eye level relative to the fixed reference point 216 by comparing the focal length (z) with the position (h) of the positioning camera 204 relative to the fixed reference point 216. For example, in the particular case where the fixed reference point 216 is the floor of the surgical suite, the difference between the height (h) of the positioning camera 204 above the floor of the surgical suite and the focal length (z) is the patient's eye level. In various embodiments, the patient's eye level is determined prior to the ophthalmic surgical intervention and utilized to maintain a desired IOP set point. In another embodiment, the processor 108 continuously determines the focal length (z) of the positioning camera 204 and continuously determines the patient's eye level. Continuous determination of the patient's eye level facilitates adjustment of IOP due to patient positional changes, for example, during ophthalmic surgical intervention.

[0017] 3 is a flow diagram of a process 300 for determining a patient's eye level. Process 300 begins at step 302. At step 304, positioning camera 204 is directed above patient's eye 112. At step 306, encoder 207 communicates the position (h) of positioning camera 204 relative to fixed reference point 216 to processor 108. At step 308, positioning camera 204 focuses on patient's eye 112. At step 310, the focal length (z) of positioning camera 204 is communicated to processor 108. At step 312, processor 108 compares the focal length (z) with the position (h) of positioning camera 204 to determine the patient's eye level. At step 314, the patient's eye level is displayed to the operator via display device 120. At step 316, the operator uses the patient's eye level to establish an IOP setpoint. Process 300 ends at step 318. However, in various embodiments, process 300 may periodically or continuously monitor the patient's eye level to ensure proper adjustment of IOP during the ophthalmic surgical intervention. In such embodiments, process 300 does not end at step 318, but rather returns to step 308 from step 316.

[0018] Depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of any of the algorithms described herein may be performed in a different sequence, added, merged, or omitted entirely (e.g., not all of the acts or events described are required to implement an algorithm). Furthermore, in certain embodiments, acts or events may be performed simultaneously rather than sequentially, for example, via multithreading, interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or other parallel architectures. Although certain computer-implemented tasks are described as being performed by particular entities, other embodiments are possible in which these tasks are performed by different entities.

[0019] For purposes of this patent application, the term computer-readable storage medium encompasses one or more tangible computer-readable storage media having a structure. By way of example, and not limitation, a computer-readable storage medium may include, where appropriate, a semiconductor-based circuit or other integrated circuit (IC) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or application-specific IC (ASIC)), a hard disk, HDD, hybrid hard drive (HHD), optical disk, optical disk drive (ODD), magneto-optical disk, magneto-optical drive, floppy disk, floppy disk drive (FDD), magnetic tape, holographic storage medium, solid-state drive (SSD), RAM drive, secure digital card, secure digital drive, flash memory card, flash memory drive, or any other suitable tangible computer-readable storage medium, or a combination of two or more thereof.

[0020] The term "substantially" is defined as approximately what is specified, but not necessarily exactly what is specified (and is inclusive, e.g., substantially 90 degrees includes 90 degrees, and substantially parallel includes parallel), as will be understood by those skilled in the art. In any disclosed embodiment, the terms "substantially," "approximately," "nearly," and "about" can be substituted with "within [a few percent]" of what is specified.

[0021] In particular, conditional language used herein, such as "can," "might," "may," "e.g.," and the like, unless specifically stated or understood within the context in which it is used, is intended to generally convey that certain embodiments include certain features, elements, and / or conditions, while other embodiments do not include them. Thus, such conditional language is generally not intended to imply that the features, elements, and / or conditions are in any way required by one or more embodiments, or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for determining, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and / or conditions are included in or performed in a particular embodiment.

[0022] While the foregoing detailed description illustrates, describes, and points out novel features applicable to various embodiments, it should be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the devices shown may be made without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. As will be recognized, the processes described herein may be embodied in forms that do not provide all of the features and advantages set forth herein, since some features may be used or practiced separately from others. The scope of protection is defined by the appended claims, rather than by the foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

Claims

1. a robotic arm positioned above the patient's eye; a positioning camera disposed on the robotic arm and positioned to visualize the patient's eye; a processor electrically coupled to the positioning camera, receiving an indication of the position of the robot arm relative to a fixed reference point; determining a focal distance between the positioning camera and the patient's eye; comparing the focal length to the position of the robot arm; Determine the patient's eye level relative to the fixed reference point a processor configured to:

1. An ophthalmic surgical system comprising:

2. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the fixed reference point is the floor of a surgical suite.

3. The ophthalmic surgery system of claim 2 , wherein the position of the robotic arm relative to the fixed reference point is a height of the robotic arm above the floor of the surgical suite.

4. The ophthalmic surgery system of claim 2 , wherein the patient's eye level relative to the fixed reference point is the height of the patient's eyes above the floor.

5. The ophthalmic surgery system of claim 1 , wherein the positioning camera is a three-dimensional stereoscopic camera.

6. The ophthalmic surgery system of claim 1 , including an encoder coupled to the robotic arm, the encoder configured to determine a position of the robotic arm relative to the fixed reference point.

7. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 6 , wherein the encoder is electrically coupled to the processor.

8. The ophthalmic surgical system of claim 7 , wherein the encoder is at least one of a linear encoder and an angular encoder.

9. a positioning camera positioned to visualize the patient's eye; an encoder coupled to the positioning camera, the encoder configured to determine a position of the positioning camera relative to a fixed reference point; a processor electrically coupled to the encoder and the positioning camera, receiving an indication of the position of the positioning camera relative to the fixed reference point; determining a focal distance between the positioning camera and the patient's eye; comparing the focal length to the position of the positioning camera; determining the level of the patient's eye relative to said fixed reference point; a processor configured to: including a surgical microscope.

10. The surgical microscope of claim 9, wherein the fixed reference point is the floor of the surgical suite.

11. The surgical microscope of claim 10 , wherein the position of the positioning camera relative to the fixed reference point is the height of the positioning camera above the floor of the surgical suite.

12. 12. The surgical microscope of claim 11, wherein the patient's eye level relative to the fixed reference point is the height of the patient's eyes above the floor.

13. 10. The surgical microscope according to claim 9, wherein the positioning camera is a three-dimensional stereoscopic camera.

14. The surgical microscope according to claim 9 , wherein the encoder is at least one of a linear encoder and an angular encoder.

15. 1. A method for determining a patient's eye level, comprising: focusing a positioning camera on the patient's eye; determining a position of the positioning camera relative to a fixed reference point; determining a focal distance between the positioning camera and the patient's eye; comparing the focal length to the position of the positioning camera relative to the fixed reference point; determining the patient's eye level; A method comprising:

16. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein said determining the position of the positioning camera relative to the fixed reference point comprises determining a height of the positioning camera above a floor of a surgical suite.

17. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the patient's eye level is the height of the patient's eyes above the floor of the surgical suite.

18. 16. The method of claim 15, comprising utilizing the patient's eye level to establish an intraocular pressure set point.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the determining of the focal length is performed continuously.

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