Ophthalmic surgery support device

An ophthalmic surgery support device for assisting an operator in an operation of a surgical instrument in order to position a tip end of the surgical instrument to be inserted in an eye through a wound opening formed in an eyeball of a patient to a fine location in the eye, the device comprising:

• a Z moving mechanism for holding the surgical instrument movably in a Z axis direction that is a longitudinal direction of the surgical instrument to be inserted in the eye;
• a tilting mechanism for holding the Z moving mechanism so that the surgical instrument is tiltable in an arbitrary direction about a predetermined point O which is located on a Z axis and is positioned to the wound opening of the eyeball and the tilting mechanism comprising a first tilting mechanism for holding the Z moving mechanism rotatably about a first axis passing the predetermined point O and a second tilting mechanism for holding the first tilting mechanism rotatably about a second axis intersecting the first axis at the predetermined point O,
• the first tilting mechanism comprising:
• a first rough-motion rotating part held rotatably about the first axis;
• a first rough-motion locking mechanism for locking rotation of the first rough-motion rotating part;
• a first fine-motion rotating part held rotatably about the first axis together with the first rough-motion rotating part and attached with the Z moving mechanism, the first fine-motion rotating part including a first limiting mechanism for limiting rotation in a narrower range than the rotation of the first rough-motion rotating part, and the rotation in the narrow range limited by the first limiting mechanism is switched when the rotation of the first rough-motion rotating part is locked;
• a first resistance imparting means for imparting resistance to make a tilting operation of the surgical instrument by the first fine-motion rotating part for the rotation in the limited range by the first limiting mechanism heavier than a tilting operation of the surgical instrument by the first rough-motion rotating part;
• and
• a first fine-motion locking mechanism for locking the rotation of the first fine-motion rotating part;
• the second tilting mechanism comprising:
• a second rough-motion rotating part held rotatably about the second axis;
• a second rough-motion locking mechanism for locking rotation of the second rough-motion rotating part;
• a second fine-motion rotating part held rotatably about the second axis together with the second rough-motion rotating part and attached with the first tilting mechanism, the second fine-motion rotating part including a second limiting mechanism for limiting rotation in a narrower range than the rotation of the second rough-motion rotating part, and the rotation in the narrow range limited by the second limiting mechanism is switched when the rotation of the second rough-motion rotating part is locked;
• a second resistance imparting means for imparting resistance to make a tilting operation of the surgical instrument by the second fine-motion rotating part for the rotation in the limited range by the second limiting mechanism heavier than a tilting operation of the surgical instrument by the second rough-motion rotating part;
• and
• a second fine-motion locking mechanism for locking the rotation of the second fine-motion rotating part.