Femtosecond Glaucoma Laser Delivery for Precise Aqueous Outflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical techniques for treating glaucoma by creating fluid drainage channels in the eye face challenges such as increased risk of cataract formation, wound closure, and failure due to healing, while photodisruption methods using femtosecond lasers struggle with precise delivery and collateral damage to adjacent tissues.
Innovation Solution
The use of ultrashort laser pulses, either through the cornea or via fiberoptic delivery, with precise optical coupling and gonioscopic control, allows for targeted photodisruption of tissues like the trabecular meshwork and Schlemm's canal, minimizing damage to surrounding tissues by using visible and infrared radiation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional surgical techniques are used to create fluid drainage channels in the eye, then the procedure is simpler to perform, but the surgical site scarring and healing causes treatment failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical surgical techniques with laser-based photodisruption technology. The laser system uses focused ultrashort pulses to create precise microchannels in the trabecular meshwork and Schlemm's canal without mechanical contact, eliminating the scarring and healing responses associated with traditional mechanical surgery while maintaining procedural effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs ultrashort laser pulses with specific wavelength and duration parameters to achieve photodisruption of ocular tissues. By controlling laser pulse duration, energy density, and wavelength, the system creates precise microchannels with minimal thermal damage to surrounding tissues, thereby preventing scarring while maintaining surgical feasibility.
2Manufacturing precision
If photodisruptive energy is delivered to the trabecular meshwork and Schlemm's canal, then precise tissue targeting is achieved, but adjacent tissues may be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies laser energy with highly localized precision to specific ocular structures (trabecular meshwork and Schlemm's canal). The focused ultrashort laser pulses create microchannels at targeted locations while the ultrashort duration and precise focusing ensure that thermal and mechanical effects remain confined to the treatment zone, preventing damage to adjacent healthy tissues.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses periodic ultrashort laser pulses delivered in controlled sequences to progressively create microchannels. The pulsed delivery allows thermal relaxation between pulses, preventing heat accumulation in surrounding tissues while maintaining precise photodisruption at the focal point, thereby achieving high precision with minimal collateral damage.
3Productivity
If surgical channels are created in the eye, then fluid drainage is improved, but scarring reduces channel longevity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical surgical channel creation with laser photodisruption, which creates microchannels without the mechanical trauma that leads to scarring. The laser-induced microchannels maintain patency longer because they avoid the inflammatory response and fibrous tissue formation that characterize mechanically created channels, thereby extending channel longevity while maintaining drainage efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the phase transition of water (primary component of ocular tissues) during ultrashort laser pulse interaction. The rapid heating and vaporization of water within the laser focal volume creates microchannels through cavitation and plasma formation, a process that occurs too rapidly to trigger significant thermal damage or scarring responses, thereby preserving channel longevity.
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 method enables controlled photodisruption of target tissues with minimal collateral damage, creating effective fluid drainage channels that reduce intraocular pressure and minimize scarring, thereby prolonging the effectiveness of the treatment.
Implementation Method 1
photodisruption of tissue in the eye
Implementation Method 2
delivering precise photodisruptive energy to the trabecular meshwork and Schlemm's canal
Implementation Method 3
using optical coupling systems and controlling intraocular pressure to maintain a clear optical pathway
Implementation Method 4
controlling intraocular pressure to maintain a clear optical pathway
Data Source
AI summary
Transcorneal and fiberoptic laser delivery systems and methods for the treatment of eye diseases wherein energy is delivered by wavelengths transparent to the cornea to effect target tissues in the eye for the control of intraocular pressure in diseases such as glaucoma by delivery systems both external to and within ocular tissues. External delivery may be affected under gonioscopic control. Internal delivery may be controlled endoscopically or fiberoptically, both systems utilizing femtosecond laser energy to excise ocular tissue. The femtosecond light energy is delivered to the target tissues to be treated to effect precisely controlled photodisruption to enable portals for the outflow of aqueous fluid in the case of glaucoma in a manner which minimizes target tissue healing responses, inflammation and scarring.