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US 7,682,089 B2Granted
System and method for positioning a probe
OwnerBrooks H. Rohleninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An adapter couples a length of optical fiber to a hollow probe and to an optical coherence tomography instrument. The length of optical fiber may be greater than the length of the adapter itself. The optical fiber is fixed to an optical coupler at a proximal end of the adapter and may be maintained in a curved configuration by features located in an internal cavity of the adapter. An optical fiber advance mechanism be used to advance and/or retract the length of optical fiber to align it within the hollow probe.
Claims12
An optical fiber probe adapter comprising:
- an optical fiber housing;
- a cavity disposed within said optical fiber housing, wherein said cavity comprises plurality of curved surfaces;
- a fiber optic coupler connected to a proximal end of said optical fiber housing;
- a length of optical fiber contained within said optical fiber housing and coupled to said fiber optic coupler, wherein said optical fiber comprises a plurality of arcuate segments approximately conforming to said plurality of curved surfaces;
- a probe coupler connected to a distal end of said optical fiber housing;
- and
- an optical fiber advance mechanism coupled to said housing.
4 more elements
A system for positioning a probe, said system comprising:
- an optical coherence tomography instrument;
- a display coupled to said optical coherence tomography instrument;
- an optical fiber probe adapter coupled to said optical coherence tomography instrument by a cable, wherein said optical fiber probe adapter further comprises:
- an optical fiber housing;
- a cavity disposed within said optical fiber housing, wherein said cavity comprises a plurality of curved surfaces;
- a fiber optic coupler connected to a proximal end of said optical fiber housing;
- a length of optical fiber contained within said optical fiber housing and coupled to said fiber optic coupler, wherein said optical fiber comprises a plurality of arcuate segments Approximately conforming to said plurality of curved surfaces;
- a probe coupler connected to a distal end of said optical fiber housing;
- and
- an optical fiber advance mechanism coupled to said housing;
- and a probe coupled to said optical fiber probe adapter.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.