Active Tracking Laser for Moving Tissue Ablation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for ablating or modifying biological tissues, such as cancerous tumors, face challenges in precisely targeting and maintaining focus on moving or shifting tissue regions due to the lack of effective tracking and control systems for heating lasers.
Innovation Solution
An active tracking system comprising an imager that detects infrared light to locate high-temperature regions and a heating laser that adjusts its beam orientation to maintain precise heating of targeted areas, even as the tissue moves, using a controller to synchronize the imager and heating laser operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a heating laser is used to ablate biological tissue, then the precision of tissue removal is improved, but the system's ability to track moving tissue regions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs an infrared imager that continuously monitors temperature changes in the tissue and feeds this information back to the controller. The controller then adjusts the heating laser's beam orientation in real-time based on the detected tissue movement, ensuring the laser remains precisely targeted on the moving tissue region throughout the ablation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical tracking systems with an optical sensing approach. Instead of physically following the tissue, the system uses an infrared imager to detect thermal radiation from the tissue, converting thermal information into positional data that guides the laser beam orientation electronically through galvanometer mirrors or similar optical steering mechanisms.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the heating laser beam orientation is made adjustable, then the ability to track moving tissue is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The infrared imager serves multiple functions: it acts as both the primary imaging sensor for detecting tissue location and movement, and as a thermal sensor for monitoring tissue temperature during heating. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate sensing systems, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller acts as an intermediary that receives thermal imaging data from the imager, processes this information to determine tissue position and movement, and then translates these data into appropriate beam orientation commands for the heating laser. This intermediary processing layer simplifies the overall system architecture by centralizing the coordination between sensing and actuation components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system enables precise and continuous heating of targeted tissue regions, improving the accuracy and effectiveness of tissue ablation or modification by dynamically tracking and adjusting to the tissue's movement, thereby enhancing surgical interventions or industrial processes.
Implementation Method 1
imaging the biological tissue comprises detecting infrared light received from the biological tissue, and wherein the infrared light received from the biological tissue is related to a temperature of the biological tissue
Implementation Method 2
the beam of electromagnetic radiation causes localized heating of a target region of the biological tissue proximate to where the beam of electromagnetic radiation intersects with the biological tissue
Implementation Method 3
a heating laser, wherein the heating laser is configured to emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation
Implementation Method 4
operate the heating laser to control the orientation of the emitted beam of electromagnetic radiation such that the beam of electromagnetic radiation intersects with the biological tissue at a controlled location based on the determined location of the high-temperature region
Data Source
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AI summary
An active tracking system includes an imager configured to image the temperature of a biological tissue and a heating laser configured to heat regions of the biological tissue. The imager locates high-temperature regions of the biological tissue and the heating laser is controlled to point toward target regions of the biological tissue based on the located high-temperature regions. The active tracking system can be used to control a heating laser to continuously heat a target region of a biological tissue even when the target region moves relative to the heating laser. The active tracking system could allow one or more target regions of a biological tissue to be 'tagged' with heat by the heating laser and to be tracked even when the one or more target regions move relative to the heating laser. Devices and methods for operating such active tracking systems are also provided.