Medical optical fiber with protective tip and method of manufacture therefor

A medical optical fiber for use with an endoscope for laser based treatment of internal bodily organs, the medical optical fiber comprising:

• an optical fiber having a distal optical fiber tip, said distal optical fiber tip having an optical fiber end face transverse to a longitudinal axis of the medical optical fiber, the optical fiber including an innermost optical core having an optical core;
• a jacket surrounding said optical fiber, said jacket having a distal jacket tip with a jacket end face transverse to the longitudinal axis, said jacket tip having a maximum external dimension D1, said jacket end face comprising a recessed portion at a distal end of the optical fiber proximal to the distal optical fiber tip, said recessed portion comprising a length L1, wherein L1 is greater than or equal to 200 micrometers (μm) and less than or equal to 500 μm;
• and
• a protective tip encapsulating said optical fiber end face and said jacket end face therewithin and having an external maximum dimension D2 transverse to the longitudinal axis, wherein D2 is greater than or equal to D1,
• said protective tip having a leading protective tip surface forward of said optical fiber end face and a trailing protective tip surface spaced apart from said jacket end face along the longitudinal axis whereby said protective tip encapsulates said optical fiber end face and said recessed portion overlaps said jacket tip between said jacket end face and said trailing protective tip surface, wherein said trailing protective tip comprises a length extending proximally from said optical fiber end face of greater than or equal to 400 μm and less than or equal to 1100 μm, and
• said protective tip being made of material which fragments or melts on incidence of laser energy to enable delivery of laser energy through said optical core end face to an internal bodily organ.