Thermal modeling for reduction of refractive laser surgery times
AssigneeVISX, Incorporated
InventorsErik Gross, Kingman Yee, Jonathan Wong
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides systems and methods for applying pulsed energy to an eye. In an exemplary embodiment, a firing rate of the pulsed energy varies in correlation with a modeled or estimated thermal response of a tissue of the eye to the pulses of the laser beam during the treatment.
Claims30
A method for use in planning a corneal refractive procedure, the procedure comprising directing a pattern of ablative laser energy pulses toward a cornea, the method comprising:
- determining a safe laser firing repetition rate based on a temperature change limit for the cornea and a relationship between a pulse characteristic and a rise in temperature of the cornea, the pulse characteristic varying according to the pattern.
A system for use in planning a corneal refractive procedure, the procedure comprising directing a pattern of ablative laser energy pulses toward a cornea, the system comprising:
- a module having at least one input for accepting the pattern, the pattern including a variable pulse characteristic, the module defining a plurality of differing time delays between sequential pulses of the pattern based on:
- a temperature limit for the cornea;
- and
- a relationship between the pulse characteristic and a rise in temperature of the cornea.
A method for planning a laser refractive procedure, the procedure comprising directing a pattern of ablative laser energy pulses toward a cornea of the eye, the method comprising:
- inputting the pattern in a first order so as to define a first pattern;
- deriving a second pattern from the first pattern based on a corneal heating model by at least one of:
- i) selectively determining a plurality of differing time delays between sequential pulses, and
- ii) reordering the pulses of the first pattern;
- and
- outputting the second pattern to a laser system for ablating the cornea with the ablative laser energy according to the pattern.
A system for planning a laser refractive procedure, the procedure comprising directing a pattern of ablative laser energy pulses toward a cornea of the eye, the system comprising:
- a memory for a storing the pattern;
- a corneal heating model;
- a module assigning a plurality of differing time delays between sequential pulses of the pattern based on the corneal heating model;
- and
- an output for communicating the time delays for ablation of the cornea.
A system for planning a laser refractive procedure, the procedure comprising directing a pattern of ablative laser energy pulses toward a cornea of the eye, the system comprising:
- a memory for a storing the pattern in a first order so as to define a first pattern;
- a corneal heating model coupled to the memory;
- a module that derives a second pattern from the first pattern by reordering the pulses of the first pattern based on the corneal heating model.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.