Methods and systems for pulsed illumination
View Patent ↗Methods and systems for performing an ophthalmic surgical procedure include pulsed illumination of target tissue. The systems may include an illumination instrument arranged to illuminate tissue at a surgical site during the ophthalmic surgical procedure. A light source provides illumination to the illumination instrument for emission from the illumination instrument toward the surgical site. A controller communicates with the light source and activates the light source to provide illumination pulses at a frequency above the flickering perception in humans and with enough light for cameral exposure and human light perception. The light source pulses to minimize phototoxicity.
1. A vitreoretinal surgical system for performing an ocular treatment procedure, comprising:
an illumination instrument sized and structurally configured to illuminate tissue at a surgical site during an ocular treatment procedure;
a light source arranged to provide illumination to the illumination instrument for emission from the illumination instrument toward the surgical site; and
a controller in communication with the light source and configured to activate the light source in a manner providing illumination pulses at a frequency above a flickering perception in humans and at an illumination level to allow a user to perform the ocular treatment procedure,
wherein the controller is arranged to activate the light source to provide illumination pulses within a frequency range of 50 Hz to 75 Hz.
2. The vitreoretinal surgical system of claim 1 , further comprising a microscope disposed and arranged to provide visualization of illuminated tissue at the surgical site to the user.
3. The vitreoretinal surgical system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a console including the light source; and
an optical fiber extending from the console to the illumination instrument and connecting the light source and the illumination instrument.
4. The vitreoretinal surgical system of claim 3 , further comprising a surgical instrument arranged to manipulate tissue at the surgical site, the surgical instrument being attached to and powered by the console.
5. The vitreoretinal surgical system of claim 1 , further comprising a camera configured to capture images of the tissue at the surgical site, the controller being configured to synchronize a camera exposure time with an illumination pulse.
6. The vitreoretinal surgical system of claim 5 , wherein the controller is configured to synchronize the camera exposure time to occur over two or more illumination pulses.
7. The vitreoretinal surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the light source comprises at least one of a mercury vapor light source, a xenon light source, an LED, a LASER, a halogen light source, and a krypton light source.
8. The vitreoretinal surgical system of claim 1 , wherein time between adjacent illumination pulses is greater than a time period of a pulse width of each illumination pulse.
9. The vitreoretinal surgical system of claim 8 , wherein the time between adjacent illumination pulses is at least twice the time period of the pulse width.
10. A method of illuminating a surgical site, comprising:
introducing a portion of an illumination instrument into an eye;
illuminating, with the illumination instrument, target tissue in the eye with illumination pulses at a frequency above the flickering perception in humans; and
performing a surgical procedure on the eye.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein illuminating the target tissue in the eye comprises illuminating with illumination pulses having a frequency of illumination pulses within a frequency range of about 40 Hz to 100 Hz.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein illuminating target tissue in the eye comprises providing illumination with illumination pulses having a frequency of illumination pulses such that time between adjacent illumination pulses is greater than a time period of a pulse width of each illumination pulse.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein illuminating target tissue in the eye comprises providing illumination with illumination pulses having a frequency of illumination pulses such that time between adjacent illumination pulses is at least twice the time period of an illumination pulse width of a single illumination pulse.
14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising controlling one of a camera and a light source to synchronize image capture functions of the camera with the illumination pulses.
15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising synchronizing an exposure time of a camera to capture an image such that a duration of the exposure time occurs over the course of at least two illumination pulses.
16. A vitreoretinal surgical system for performing a vitreoretinal procedure, comprising:
an illumination instrument sized and configured to illuminate tissue at a surgical site for an ocular procedure;
a light source arranged to provide illumination to the illumination instrument for emission from the illumination instrument;
a controller in communication with the light source and configured to activate the light source in a manner providing illumination pulses at a frequency above a flickering perception in humans, and wherein a time period of each illumination pulse is smaller than the time between illumination pulses; and
a microscope oriented relative to the surgical site and arranged to provide visualization of illuminated tissue at the surgical site to a user,
wherein the controller is arranged to activate the light source to provide illumination at a frequency in a range of 40 Hz to 100 Hz.
17. The vitreoretinal surgical system of claim 16 , comprising a camera configured to capture images of the tissue at the surgical site, the controller being configured to synchronize a camera exposure with an illumination pulse.