Image processor for intra-surgical optical coherence tomographic imaging of laser cataract procedures

1. An ophthalmic surgical system, comprising:

a laser source, configured to generate a first set of laser pulses;

a laser controller comprising a processor configured to:

generate an electronic representation of a first scan pattern; and

cause a laser scanner to scan the first set of laser pulses according to a portion of the first scan pattern to create a first photo-disrupted region in a target region of an eye;

an Optical Coherence Tomographic (OCT) imaging system configured to generate an image that includes a portion of the first photo-disrupted region with an image resolution in the range of 0.5-10 million image points per image and a frame-rate in the range of 20-500 frames/sec; and

an OCT image processor configured to perform an image analysis of the image;

wherein the processor of the laser controller is configured to:

generate an electronic representation of a modified scan pattern based on the image analysis performed by the OCT image processor; and

cause the laser scanner to scan a second set of laser pulses according the modified scan pattern to create a second photo-disrupted region.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the OCT imaging system comprises a Swept-Source OCT (SS-OCT) imaging system.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the OCT image processor and the processor of the laser controller are integrated.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the SS-OCT imaging system is configured to generate the image that includes a portion of the first photo-disrupted region with an image resolution in the range of 0.5-2 million image points per image and a frame-rate in the range of 20-200 frames/sec.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the SS-OCT imaging system is configured to generate the image that includes a portion of the first photo-disrupted region with an image resolution in the range of 2-10 million image points per image and a frame-rate in the range of 25-500 frames/sec.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein the SS-OCT imaging system is configured to generate the image that includes a portion of the first photo-disrupted region with a resolution in the range of 2,000-5,000 A-scans per B-scan.

7. The system of claim 2 , wherein the SS-OCT imaging system is configured to generate the image that includes a portion of the first photo-disrupted region with an A-scan acquisition rate of 30-300 kHz.

8. The system of claim 2 , wherein the SS-OCT imaging system is configured to generate the image that includes a portion of the first photo-disrupted region with an A-scan acquisition rate of 100-1,000 kHz.

9. The system of claim 2 , wherein:

the target region comprises an anterior capsular layer; and

the first scan pattern comprises a set of points on a cylinder to form at least one of a circular capsulotomy, an anterior capsulotomy, and a curvilinear capsulotomy.

10. The system of claim 2 , wherein:

the target region comprises a portion of a crystalline lens; and

the first scan pattern comprises a set of points on at least one of radial chop planes, cylinders, a spiral pattern and a mesh pattern to induce at least one of a chop, a photo-disruption and a lysis of the lens.

11. The system of claim 2 , wherein a z-imaging range of the SS-OCT imaging system is greater than 4 mm.

12. The system of claim 2 , wherein a z-imaging range of the SS-OCT imaging system is greater than 6 mm.

13. The system of claim 2 , wherein the SS-OCT imaging system is configured to generate the image in an imaging time less than 0.1 sec.

14. The system of claim 2 , wherein the OCT image processor is configured to generate feedback for a system operator based on the image analysis.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the OCT image processor is configured to:

determine a recommended modification input based on the image analysis; and

output the recommended modification input for display to the system operator.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the OCT image processor is configured to:

determine a difference between a reference image taken before the first set of laser pulses were generated and an image taken after the first set of laser pulses generated the first photo-disrupted region; and

output an indication of the determined difference for display to the system operator.

17. The system of claim 2 , wherein the processor of the laser controller generates the electronic representation of the modified scan pattern based on a control signal generated by the OCT image processor.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein:

the OCT image processor is configured to determine a deviation of at least one of a location, an orientation and a shape of the first photo-disrupted region relative to the first scan pattern; and

the processor of the laser controller is configured to generate the electronic representation of the modified scan pattern to reduce the determined deviation.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein:

the OCT image processor is configured to determine whether the first photo-disrupted region extends into a region of risk; and

the processor of the laser controller is configured to generate the electronic representation of the modified scan pattern to scan the second set of laser pulses outside of the region of risk.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein:

the OCT image processor is configured to recognize a surgical byproduct; and

the processor of the laser controller is configured to generate the electronic representation of the modified scan pattern so that the modified scan pattern does not overlap with the surgical byproduct.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein:

the first scan pattern is a chop pattern;

the OCT image processor is configured to recognize a gas bubble as the surgical byproduct; and

the processor of the laser controller is configured to generate an electronic representation of the modified scan pattern by generating a rotated chop pattern that does not overlap with the gas bubble.

22. The system of claim 17 , wherein:

the OCT image processor is configured to identify a portion of the first photo-disrupted region in which a photo-disruption efficiency was low; and

the processor of the laser controller is configured to generate the electronic representation of the modified scan pattern to rescan part of the identified portion of the first photo-disrupted region.

23. The system of claim 15 , wherein the OCT image processor is configured to:

analyze a portion of the image that is distinct from the first photo-disrupted region, and

generate feedback based on the analysis of the portion of the image distinct from the first photo-disrupted region.

24. The system of claim 2 , the Swept-Source-OCT imaging system comprising:

a swept wavelength light source to generate a swept-wavelength beam;

a beam guidance system, configured to:

split the swept-wavelength beam into an image beam and a reference beam;

to guide the image beam to the eye and to guide a returned image beam from the eye;

guide the reference beam to a reference mirror and to guide a returned reference beam from the reference mirror; and

combine the returned image beam and the returned reference beam into a combined beam; and

an OCT camera configured to receive the combined beam, comprising:

a detector to detect the combined beam;

a data binner to detect the combined beam as a time sequence of data;

a Fast-Fourier-Transform-system to Fourier transform the detected time sequence of data; and

an image generator to generate an image from the Fourier transform.