Photodisruptive Laser Lens Fragmentation with Bubble Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current laser-based methods for fragmenting the crystalline lens in cataract surgery face challenges due to the uncontrolled spread of gas bubbles, which can reduce the effectiveness of subsequent laser pulses and require additional fragmentation techniques, leading to less precision and control.
Innovation Solution
The method involves using photodisruptive laser pulses to fragment the lens while controlling the orientation and extent of incisions within the lens, avoiding sutures and using specific laser parameters to minimize bubble spread, allowing for precise fragmentation and removal of the lens without extensive incisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If laser pulses are applied to fragment the lens, then lens fragmentation is achieved, but gas bubbles spread uncontrollably reducing effectiveness of subsequent pulses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by creating a channel or pathway through the lens capsule before delivering fragmentation pulses into the lens substance. This preliminary channel creation allows subsequent laser pulses to reach the target regions with controlled bubble formation, preventing uncontrolled bubble spread that would otherwise block or scatter the laser energy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary structure (the laser-created channel or cavity) that mediates between the laser pulses and the lens substance. This intermediary pathway allows the laser energy to be delivered efficiently while containing the gas bubble formation within the channel, preventing bubbles from spreading into surrounding tissues and interfering with subsequent pulses.
2Productivity
If additional fragmentation techniques are used to compensate for bubble spread, then lens fragmentation is achieved, but surgical precision and control are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical fragmentation techniques (such as ultrasound or manual instruments) with a refined laser-based photodisruption method. By using laser pulses delivered through a controlled channel, the system achieves lens fragmentation with superior precision and control compared to mechanical methods, while eliminating the need for additional fragmentation techniques.
3Productivity
If more energy is deposited to overcome bubble interference, then lens fragmentation is achieved, but damage to the retina increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts or removes the harmful gas bubbles from the optical pathway by containing them within a laser-created channel. This extraction of bubbles from the surrounding tissue and confinement within the channel prevents them from interfering with subsequent laser pulses, allowing effective lens fragmentation at lower energy levels that do not damage the retina.
4Productivity
If treatment time is extended to achieve complete fragmentation, then lens removal is complete, but surgical time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains continuity of useful action by creating an open channel through the lens capsule that allows uninterrupted delivery of laser pulses into the lens substance. This continuous access enables complete lens fragmentation and removal in a single surgical session without requiring multiple procedures or extended treatment times, as the laser can systematically treat the entire lens through the established pathway.
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 approach enables efficient and precise fragmentation of the crystalline lens with reduced energy deposition, minimizing damage to the retina and allowing for shorter treatment times, thereby improving surgical precision and reducing secondary refractive errors.
Implementation Method 1
Laser-induced photodisruption has been already used in the past in laser ophthalmic surgery. In the target region the laser ionizes a portion of the molecules, eventually releasing gases, which, in an expansion phase, disrupt and break up the lens material in the target region.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus and methods of treating a hard lens region of an eye with a laser where one method includes identifying a boundary of the hard lens region, selecting a laser-parameter to enable a photo disruptive procedure in the hard lens region and to control a spreading of bubbles in the hard lens region, modifying a mechanical property of a posterior portion of the hard lens region in a proximity of the identified boundary by the photo disruptive procedure, and modifying a mechanical property of a portion anterior to the modified posterior portion of the hard lens region by the photo disruptive procedure. The laser bubbles can be applied to form incisions which are non-transverse to an axis of the eye and intersect the lens fibers.