Ophthalmic Laser Pattern Modification for Fundus Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current ophthalmic laser treatment apparatuses face inefficiencies due to complex selection procedures for irradiation patterns, leading to poor operationality and treatment efficiency, especially when dealing with irregularly shaped treatment areas or blood vessels on the eye fundus.
Innovation Solution
An ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus with a scanner and control unit that allows for the selection and modification of stored irradiation patterns, enabling the deletion or addition of spots and adjustment of pattern curvature to better align with the eye's curvature, thereby improving treatment precision and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If all irradiation patterns are stored in the memory, then complete coverage of treatment areas is achieved, but the selection procedure becomes complex and operationality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the irradiation pattern selection process by dividing patterns into categories (e.g., circular, rectangular, triangular arrangements) and providing representative patterns for each category. This segmentation allows operators to quickly navigate and select appropriate patterns without being overwhelmed by the complete set of all possible patterns, thus maintaining operational simplicity while ensuring comprehensive coverage is available when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent prepares and stores multiple predetermined irradiation patterns in advance in the memory unit, covering various treatment area shapes and sizes. These pre-prepared patterns include different geometric arrangements (circular, rectangular, triangular) that can be directly selected and applied, eliminating the need for operators to design patterns from scratch and ensuring complete coverage options are readily available.
2Ease of operation
If only previously prepared irradiation patterns are available, then operational simplicity is maintained, but spots may fall on treatment areas requiring avoidance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables dynamic modification of predetermined irradiation patterns by allowing operators to add, delete, or move individual spots within the pattern. This dynamic adjustment capability ensures that spots can be repositioned to avoid blood vessels or sensitive areas while maintaining the overall pattern structure, thus achieving both operational simplicity and treatment accuracy simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by allowing selective modification of specific spots within an irradiation pattern while keeping other spots unchanged. Operators can locally adjust spots that fall on areas requiring avoidance (such as blood vessels) without altering the entire pattern, maintaining both the simplicity of using predetermined patterns and the reliability of avoiding sensitive areas.
3Adaptability or versatility
If circular arc patterns with various curvatures are stored in the memory, then adaptability to different fundus curvatures is improved, but the selection procedure becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent prepares circular arc irradiation patterns with various curvatures in advance and stores them in the memory unit. These pre-prepared patterns cover a range of curvatures that can accommodate different fundus geometries. Operators can directly select from these prepared patterns without performing complex calculations or adjustments, thus achieving both adaptability to different curvatures and operational simplicity.
4Reliability
If spot positions are freely designed, then precise avoidance of blood vessels is achieved, but time and labor consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines predetermined patterns with dynamic modification capabilities, allowing operators to start with a pre-prepared pattern and make localized adjustments to spot positions. This approach achieves precise avoidance of blood vessels through selective spot repositioning while minimizing the time and labor required compared to designing all spot positions from scratch, thus resolving the contradiction between precision and time consumption.
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 solution enables efficient and appropriate laser treatment by effectively utilizing pre-prepared irradiation patterns, reducing operational time and labor, and ensuring uniform spot arrangement on the eye fundus, even in complex anatomical areas.
Implementation Method 1
a treatment laser beam is sequentially irradiated on a spot-by-spot basis to fundus tissues of a patient's eye to thermally photocoagulate the tissues
Implementation Method 2
a scanning unit including a galvano mirror and others is installed in a laser-beam delivery unit to scan a treatment laser beam
Data Source
AI summary
An ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus for treating an eye including: an irradiation unit including a laser source, and a scanner for scanning an irradiation spot from the laser source onto a tissue of the eye in two dimensions; a memory for storing a plurality of predetermined irradiation patterns in each of which a plurality of the irradiation spots are arranged in a predetermined arrangement; an irradiation pattern selecting unit including a switch for inputting a signal to select a pattern from the patterns stored in the memory; an pattern changing unit including a switch for inputting a signal to change part of the arrangement of the irradiation pattern in which irradiation spots are arranged on the basis of the selected irradiation pattern; and a control unit for controlling driving of the irradiation unit to sequentially irradiate the beam based on the irradiation pattern changed by the pattern changing unit.