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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for ophthalmic treatment
using photocoagulation by a light beam.
2. Description of Related Art
There is known an apparatus for optical treatment to treat a patient's eye
by irradiating a laser beam into its affected part, wherein the laser beam
is introduced from an apparatus body into delivery unit, for example a
probe or a microscope, through an optical fiber cable.
However, because the apparatus body is large in size and provided with a
cooling system, it is impossible to move it easily.
In case of the use in different places such as a treatment room, an
operating room, or plural operating rooms, plural apparatuses for
ophthalmic treatment are generally provided. Additionally, use is made of
an apparatus having an extended optical fiber cable and a control box
which is connected to a body of the apparatus by a separate communication
cable pulled from the body of the apparatus.
Further, an ophthalmic apparatus is proposed in Japanese patent Application
No. HEI 2-312006 (Title of the invention: Adaptor for photocoagulation) by
the present applicants, in which an optical fiber cable is provided with
an adaptor for photocoagulation using a laser beam to compensate an
emitting power of a semiconductor laser beam, the adaptor connected with
the apparatus body through a communication cable.
During an ophthalmic operation using such apparatus mentioned above, it is
possible to move easily the control box and the adaptor as needed for the
operation. However, when the control box and the adaptor are frequently
moved, the communication cable and line get entangled with each other,
thereby causing the break down of the cable.
Additionally, when connected with plural control boxes arranged in
different places, the communication cable is apt to affected by an
electromagnetic and electrostatic influence from its surrounding
environment, thereby causing a malfunction and attenuation of the signal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and
has as an object to overcome the above problems and to provide an
apparatus for optical treatment using a light beam, which apparatus
reduces physical problems, such as a breaking of apparatus communication
cables caused by entanglement which occurs during the movement of the
apparatus control box and adaptor. The communication cable of the
apparatus connects the adaptor with the apparatus body which is not
affected by the electromagnetic and electrostatic influence, even if laid
in different places.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in
part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the
description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects
and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of
the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended
claims.
To achieve the objects in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as
embodied and broadly described herein, an apparatus for optical treatment
using a light beam, which includes an apparatus body having a first
control operation means for providing an optical treatment light and an
optical fiber cable introducing an optical treatment light from the
apparatus body into a delivery unit, comprises a light relaying device
connected with both of the apparatus body and the delivery unit through
the optical fiber cable, second control operation means provided in the
light relaying device, optical communication means for transmitting and
receiving light signals, the optical communication means is arranged in
the apparatus body and the light relaying device respectively, an optical
system for introducing the light signals which the optical communication
means transmits and receives through the optical fiber cable.
According to the apparatus for optical treatment of this invention, it is
possible to reduce physical problems like the breaking of cables which
occurs by their entanglement on the movement of the control box or the
adaptor, and further to remove the electromagnetic and electrostatic
influence on the communication cable even if laid in different places.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part
of this specification illustrate an embodiment of the invention and,
together with the description, serve to explain the objects, advantages
and principles of the invention. In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram to show the arrangement of an apparatus body and
a control box in an apparatus for optical treatment using photocoagulation
embodying this invention ; and
FIG. 2 is a block diagram to show the arrangement of an apparatus body and
an adaptor in an apparatus for optical treatment using photocoagulation
embodying this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A detailed description of one preferred embodiment of an apparatus for
optical treatment embodying the present invention will now be given
referring to the accompanying drawings.
In FIG. 1, a block diagram shows an arrangement of an apparatus body 1 and
a control box 2 in an apparatus for optical treatment.
Laser photocoagulation apparatus body
First, in the apparatus body for photocoagulation using a laser beam, its
optical system comprises an argon laser 3 for emitting a treatment light
which has the wavelength of 488 nm and 514.5 nm, a safety shutter 4 for
opening or closing the optical path, an attenuator 5 for attenuating the
laser beam emitted from the argon treatment laser 3 in order to use it as
an aiming beam, a dichroic mirror 6 for transmitting the light which has
the wavelength of 488 nm and 514.5 nm, and for reflecting the light having
wavelength of 1300 nm, a condenser lens 7 for condensing the laser beam
into the edge plane of an optical fiber 8, and a beam splitter 9 for
reflecting a part of the laser beam emitted from the argon treatment laser
3.
The reflected light on the beam splitter 9 is incident on a light detecting
device 11 after being condensed through a condenser lens 10, and its
detected value is used for monitoring the emission of the laser beam.
Further, in the apparatus body, there is also provided a communication
means which comprise; a semiconductor communication laser 12 for emitting
a laser beam having the wavelength of 1300 nm, which is used as a light
source for transmitting communication light to the control box 2, a
collimating lens 13, a half mirror 14 (instead thereof, a polarizer may be
used), a band pass filter 15 for transmitting communication light which
has the wavelength of 1300 nm transmitted through the optical fiber 8 from
the control box 2, a condenser lens 16 for condensing the transmitted
communication light from the control box 2 into the light detecting device
17.
Next, in the control system of the apparatus body, an operation device 20
is provided with a setting switch for setting a treatment condition, such
as the laser beam emitting condition, and a safety switch. The signal of
the operation device 20 is inputted into a microcomputer 21. An output
signal of the microcomputer 21 is sent to a laser driving device 23
through a D/A converter 22 to control the argon treatment laser 3.
The emitting power of the argon treatment laser 3 is monitored at the
emitting monitor circuit 24 through the light detecting device 11. Then,
its monitored signal is adjusted by compared with an instructed emitting
power at the laser driving device 23, while transmitted into a
microcomputer 21 through A/D converter 25 to monitor for abnormal emission
of the argon treatment laser 3. If abnormal emission is detected, the
microcomputer 21 controls the safety shutter 4 through the shutter driving
device 26 and the attenuator 5 through the filter drive device 27.
In a communication means, a transmitting laser driving device 28 controls
the emission of the semiconductor communication laser 12, and a receiving
circuit 29 reads signals transmitted light communication through the
optical fiber 8 from the control box 2 by processing the results detected
at the detecting device 17.
Control Box
In the optical system of the control box 2 as a light relaying device, the
emitted light from the optical fiber 8 is formed into the parallel
luminous flux through a collimating lens 30. While transmitting the light
which has the wavelength of 488 nm and 514.5 nm as the treatment light for
a patient, a dichroic mirror 31 reflects the light of 1300 nm as the
communication light received from the optical fiber 8.
A part of the received treatment light is reflected on a beam splitter 32,
and the amount of the reflected light is detected at a detecting device 34
through a condenser lens 33, thereby the laser emitting power from the
optical fiber 8 is detected. As a result, an abnormal emission of the
optical fiber 8 is detected.
Further, the treatment light transmitted through the beam splitter 32 is
condensed into the edge plane of another optical fiber 37 by a condenser
lens 36 through a filter 35, and the condensed laser beam is introduced
into a unit 38 through the optical fiber 37 for delivery to a patient. The
filter 35 cuts any light having the wavelength of 1300 nm so as to prevent
communication light from being incident to the delivery unit 38.
Communication means in the control box 2 includes semiconductor
communication laser 39 that emits a communications transmission laser beam
for transmission having the wavelength of 1300 nm, a collimating lens 40,
a half mirror 41, a band pass filter for transmitting communication light
which has the wavelength of 1300 nm, a condenser lens 43, and a detecting
device 44 for receiving light.
The control system of the control box 2 operated as follows. Namely, a
signal from an operation device 45, having operation switches, is sent to
a microcomputer 47 directly or through an A/D converter 46. On the other
hand, the amount of the light detected by the light detecting device 34 is
inputted to an input monitor circuit 48 and further to the microcomputer
47 through the A/D converter 46. Therefore, the microcomputer 47
communicates the output information of the emitting power of the argon
treatment laser 3 to the apparatus body by commanding the transmitting
communication laser 39 to emit through a transmitting laser driving device
50. Further, after receiving the signal from a trigger switch 51, the
microcomputer 47 transmits a signal into the apparatus body 1 in order to
insert a filter 52, into the observing optical path to protect the eye of
an oculist, and to move a attenuator 5 outside of the optical path.
As mentioned above, in the control box 2, communication light is
transmitted from the control box 2 through the optical fiber 8 into the
apparatus body 1 by the emission of the transmitting semiconductor laser
39 through the laser transmitting drive device 50, and the communication
light, received from the apparatus body 1 through the optical fiber in the
control box 2, is detected by the light detecting device 44 for processing
in the signal processing circuit 53. Since communication light and
treatment light are commonly carried by the optical fiber 8, control box
movement is facilitated without cable entanglement problems of the prior
art.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram to show the arrangement of the apparatus body
and an adaptor in a second embodiment of the present invention.
Apparatus Body For Photocoagulation
In the apparatus body, a semiconductor 60 for emitting the treatment light
having a wavelength of 800 nm consists of two light sources combined with
optical members (not shown). The light beam emitted from the semiconductor
60 is formed of a parallel luminous flux through a collimating lens 61.
Although not shown it is preferable to remove the astigmatism by a
cylindrical lens. A part of the light beam is reflected on a beam splitter
62 to input into a light detecting device 64 through a condenser lens 63.
Numeral 65 is a shutter for opening or closing the optical path of the
semiconductor laser beam. A dichroic mirror 66 transmits the treatment
light beam of 800 nm emitted from the semiconductor laser 60 and reflects
the communication light of 1300 nm. And then, a dichroic mirror 67
transmits the light beam of a wavelength of more than 800 nm, while
reflecting that of 630-670 nm. The beam transmitted through the dichroic
mirror 67 is condensed into an optical fiber 71 through a condensing lens
70.
The aiming light beam emitted from an aiming light emitting laser 68, after
formed into a parallel luminous flux by a collimating lens 69, is coaxial
with the treatment light by the dichroic mirror 67.
The reflected light beam on the dichroic mirror 66, transmitted from the
adaptor through the optical fiber 71, is introduced into a light detecting
device 77 through a half mirror 74, a band pass filter for transmitting
the light beam of wavelength of 1300 nm, and a condensing lens 76.
The transmitting light beam having a wavelength of 1300 nm emitted from a
semiconductor laser 72 is formed into a parallel luminous flux by a
collimating lens 73, and after being reflected on a half mirror 74 and the
dichroic mirror 66, the transmitting light beam is condensed into the
optical fiber 71 through the dichroic mirror 67 and the condensing lens
70.
The control system in the apparatus body is not explained here because it
is approximately the same as that of the first embodiment, except that the
aiming light beam is obtained by employing a visible laser instead of an
attenuator.
Adaptor
The emitted light from the optical fiber 71 is formed into a parallel
luminous flux by a collimating lens 80, and while its wavelength of
630-670 nm, 800 nm are transmitted through a dichroic mirror 81, its
wavelength of 1300 nm is reflected thereon. Therefore, the optical path
for communication light is shared with the optical path for the treatment
light by including the dichroic mirror 81 respectively.
The communication optical system in the adaptor comprises a semiconductor
laser 82 applying a wavelength of 1300 nm, a collimating lens 83, a half
mirror 84, a band pass filter 85 which transmits the light having a
wavelength of 1300 nm, a collimating lens 86, and a light detecting device
87.
The input monitoring optical system consists of a beam splitter 88 which
reflects a part of the laser beam, a collimating lens 89, and a light
detecting device 90.
A filter 91 cuts the communication light emitted from the semiconductor
laser 72, which the light has a wavelength of 1300 nm. Further, the
treatment light beam of 800 nm is emitted from a semiconductor laser 92,
and formed into a parallel luminous flux by a collimating lens 93. The
optical path of the treatment light is opened or closed by a shutter 97.
An optical system to detect the emitting power of the semiconductor laser
92 consists of a beam splitter 94, a condensing lens 95 and a light
detecting device 96.
A mirror 98 has partly different specific characters, that is, its center
part reflects the laser beam emitted from the apparatus body, and its
other part transmits the light from the semiconductor laser 92. Therefore,
although it is not clear in FIG. 2, the optical path of the semiconductor
laser 92 is not coaxial with the optical path of the laser from the
apparatus body. After that, both laser beams become coaxial by input into
a fiber 100 through a condensing lens 99. For details, reference is made
to Japanese Patent application No. HEI 2-312006.
Next, the control system in the adaptor operates as follows. Namely, based
on the control signal of an operation device 101, a microcomputer 102
controls the semiconductor laser 82 through a transmitting laser driving
device 103 in order to send the transmitting signal to the apparatus body,
while commanding a laser driving circuit 105 of a semiconductor laser 92
through a D/A converter 104 to emit the treatment light.
Based on the detected signal of the light detecting device 90, an input
monitor circuit 106 monitors the emitting power of the emitted light from
the optical fiber 71, and sends the monitored signal into the
microcomputer 102 through an A/D converter. Therefore, the microcomputer
102 commands the apparatus body to increase the emitting power if that of
the optical fiber 71 is not sufficient, further, to close the shutter 65
and the operation device 101 to display if the abnormal emission of the
laser beam is detected. The emitting power of the semiconductor laser 92
is monitored at a monitor circuit 107.
Further, after receiving a signal from a trigger switch 108, the
microcomputer 102 controls a filter 110 for protecting the eye of an
oculist 110, and opens the shutter 65, besides, the shutter 97 through the
shutter drive circuit 109 if necessary.
The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has
been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not
intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form
disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of the
above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. The
embodiment chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the
invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in the art
to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various
modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is
intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended
hereto, and their equivalents.
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