Integrated ophthalmic illumination method and system

Abstract

An integrated ophthalmic illumination method and system having two integrated light sources, a lamp and an infra-red (IR) diode laser. The lamp light source may be used to produce either monochromatic or color images, as necessary, at high resolution. In a preferred embodiment, color images are provided using an RGBT (red-green-blue-transparent) filter wheel. The filter wheel is divided into four sections or arc sections around the periphery of the wheel. Three of the four partitioned sections are larger and equal sections that comprise the three optical R, G and B filter sections. The fourth section is a transparent, or empty, narrow section that is used for transferring the full original content of the white beam when a monochromatic or chromatic image is desired. The RGBT wheel rotates at a speed of one third of the frame rate of a CCD camera, producing a sequence of definite R, G and B spectral light bursts. These R, G and B illuminated images are later composed by a computer into a single colored picture. A second filter wheel is provided with several spaced filters mounted around a disc which allow for use in monochromatic illumination and excitation with angiographic agents.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.