Miniature apparatus and method for optical stimulation of nerves and other animal tissue

A method comprising:

• providing a nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit, the nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit having a delivery tip, a first nerve-stimulation-light-emitting source, a second light-emitting source, and a third light-emitting source mounted in the nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit and optics capable of combining three light signals;
• obtaining, from the first nerve-stimulation-light-emitting source, a first infrared laser beam having a first wavelength that directly optically stimulates an action potential in a neural tissue of an animal subject;
• obtaining user input and based on the user input, controlling the first infrared laser beam to form a optical stimulation signal;
• emitting, from the second light-emitting source, a visible optical pointer signal at a second wavelength that is visible to a human, that is different than the first wavelength, and that is configured to indicate a location of the optical stimulation signal;
• emitting, from the third light-emitting source, a surgical laser pulse that is configured to ablate tissue of the animal subject;
• beam combining, with the optics, the first infrared laser beam, the visible optical pointer signal, and the surgical laser pulse into a single combined beam within the nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit;
• applying the single combined beam from the nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit onto the location on the tissue for stimulation of the tissue, wherein the applying includes focusing the single combined beam through the delivery tip such that the focused single combined beam triggers a nerve-action potential response in the neural tissue;
• sensing a nerve-response of the animal subject;
• and
• controlling an operation of the nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit based on the sensed nerve response.

An apparatus comprising:

• a nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit, wherein the nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit includes a delivery tip;
• means for stimulating an action potential in a neural tissue of an animal, wherein the means for stimulating includes, a first infrared laser beam having a first wavelength that directly optically stimulates the action potential in the neural tissue of the animal;
• means for obtaining user input and based on the user input, controlling the first laser beam;
• means for emitting a visible optical pointer signal;
• means for emitting an optical signal for removing tissue to effect optical-beam surgery;
• means for beam combining the first infrared laser beam, the visible optical pointer signal and the optical signal for removing tissue into a single combined beam;
• means for applying and focusing the first infrared laser beam of the single combined beam through the delivery tip of the nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit onto a location on the neural tissue for stimulation of a nerve-action potential in the neural tissue, wherein the visible optical pointer signal of the single combined beam indicates the location of the first focused infrared laser beam on the neural tissue;
• means for sensing a nerve-response of the subject;
• and
• means for controlling an operation of the nerve-stimulation-and-surgical unit based on the sensed nerve response.

An apparatus comprising:

• a light-delivery handpiece of such small size to be readily hand held by a human user, the handpiece including:
• a self-contained power source;
• a first infrared-light-emitting source that is powered from the self-contained power source and is operative to emit a first infrared optical signal at a first wavelength;
• a visible-light-emitting source operative to emit a visible optical pointer signal at a second wavelength that is visible to a human and that is different than the first wavelength and that is configured to indicate a focus location of the first infrared optical signal;
• a tissue-ablation laser source operable to deliver a surgical pulse of optical energy that ablates animal tissue;
• a beam-combining unit operatively coupled to receive the first infrared optical signal from the first infrared-light-emitting source, the visible optical pointer signal from the visible-light-emitting source, and the surgical pulse from the tissue-ablation laser source, and output a single combined beam containing the first infrared optical signal, the visible optical pointer signal from the visible-light-emitting source, and the surgical pulse;
• an optical-delivery element located at a delivery tip of the handpiece, wherein the optical-delivery element delivers the single combined beam through the delivery tip onto the focus location on a human subject;
• a nerve-response sensor operatively coupled to the handpiece, wherein the sensor senses a nerve response of the subject and generates signal information based on the nerve response that is coupled to control an operation of the handpiece;
• a controller operatively coupled to control an operation of the apparatus.