U.S. patent application number 15/094169 was filed with the patent office on 2017-10-12 for obtaining and displaying histogram and/or confidence of intra-operative refraction and/or iol power recommendation.
This patent application is currently assigned to Clarity Medical Systems, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Clarity Medical Systems, Inc.. Invention is credited to BRADFORD CHEW, BARRY LINDER, YAN ZHOU.
Application Number | 20170290502 15/094169 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 59981300 |
Filed Date | 2017-10-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170290502 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LINDER; BARRY ; et
al. |
October 12, 2017 |
Obtaining and Displaying Histogram and/or Confidence of
Intra-Operative Refraction and/or IOL Power Recommendation
Abstract
In order to take advantage of the real time nature of
intra-operative refraction or wavefront aberrometry, and visually
make the history of the measurements apparent to a surgeon, a
histogram of frequency vs IOL results calculated from an IOL
formula is computed and IOL suggestions being accumulated are
displayed in a histogram. One embodiment is a means to present to a
surgeon a histogram of intra-operative refractions. Another
embodiment is to automatically and intra-operatively detect the
aphakic phase of a cataract surgery to display a histogram of a
recommended IOL power.
Inventors: |
LINDER; BARRY; (DANVILLE,
CA) ; ZHOU; YAN; (PLEASANTON, CA) ; CHEW;
BRADFORD; (SAN RAMON, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Clarity Medical Systems, Inc. |
Pleasanton |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Clarity Medical Systems,
Inc.
Pleasanton
CA
|
Family ID: |
59981300 |
Appl. No.: |
15/094169 |
Filed: |
April 8, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61F 2009/00848
20130101; A61F 9/008 20130101; A61B 3/0058 20130101; A61B 3/1015
20130101; A61F 2009/0087 20130101; A61B 3/0025 20130101; A61B 3/103
20130101; A61B 3/152 20130101; A61F 9/00825 20130101; A61F 9/00736
20130101 |
International
Class: |
A61B 3/00 20060101
A61B003/00; A61B 3/15 20060101 A61B003/15; A61B 3/10 20060101
A61B003/10 |
Claims
1. A method for real time detection and measurement of aberration
values of a wavefront returned from a subject eye, wherein the
method is adapted to be performed while a surgical procedure on a
subject eye is ongoing, with the method performed by a computer
system coupled to receive wavefront aberration values from a
wavefront sensor configured to measure real time aberration values
of a wavefront returned from the eye of a subject while an image of
the subject eye is being viewed by an operator during an ongoing
vision correction procedure, coupled to receive pre- or
intra-operative biometric measurements of the subject eye being
viewed by an operator during the ongoing vision correction
procedure from a biometric parameter measurement module, and
coupled to a display, the method comprising: disqualifying
unreliable measured real time aberration measurements received from
the wavefront sensor based on qualifying parameters including one
or more of eye alignment measurements, wavefront power
measurements, high-order aberration measurements, prismatic
wavefront tilt, and inter-frame wavefront steadiness to collect a
set of qualified real time aberration values; calculating and
storing qualified intra-operative refraction values of the subject
eye based on qualified wavefront measurements; recording the
occurrence frequency of stored qualified refraction values of the
subject eye; intra-operatively detecting whether the patient eye is
in the phakic, aphakic, or pseudo-phakic phase of the vision
correction procedure in real time based on the difference between
pre-operative predicted values of refraction power and measured
intra-operative phakic, aphakic, or pseudo-phakic values of
refraction power of the subject eye; displaying a real time image
of the subject eye, a histogram of occurrence frequency
distribution of the qualified refraction values, and/or a histogram
of occurrence frequency distribution of IOL powers predicted based
on an IOL predictive algorithm that incorporates among other
parameters the aphakic refraction of the subject eye in one or more
of the phakic, aphakic, or pseudo-phakic phase of the vision
correction procedure, an indication of the phase of the vision
correction procedure, a pre-operatively determined target
refraction value, and one or more of most recent qualified
intra-operative refraction values.
2. The method of claim 1 where calculating and storing qualified
intra-operative refraction values further comprises: receiving pre-
or intra-operatively measured anatomical parameters of the subject
eye including one or more of axial length, anterior chamber depth,
corneal anterior (K or keratometry values) and/or posterior
profiles, corneal steep meridian and flat meridian axis and power,
corneal astigmatism, cornea thickness, aqueous depth, lens
thickness, lens anterior and posterior profile, pupil size or
diameter, pupil center, white to white distance, iris center, and
retina thickness; and predicting required IOL power based on
measured aphakic optical power of the subject eye and one or more
of the pre- or intra-operatively measured anatomical
parameters.
3. The method of claim 1 where disqualifying comprises:
disqualifying sampled wavefronts having non-uniform optical
power.
4. The method of claim 1 where disqualifying comprises:
disqualifying sampled wavefronts having high amount of higher order
aberrations.
5. The method of claim 1 where disqualifying comprises:
disqualifying sampled wavefronts having a prismatic tilt value
higher than a threshold value.
6. The method of claim 1 where disqualifying comprises:
disqualifying sampled wavefronts having overall signal strength
higher than one threshold value or lower than another threshold
value.
7. The method of claim 1 where disqualifying comprises:
disqualifying sampled wavefronts having inter-frame variation in
refraction value above a threshold.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising: assigning an overall
confidence value to a qualified wavefront measurement by applying
threshold values to one or more qualifying parameters to determine
confidence values of individual qualifying parameters and combining
the confidence values for each qualifying parameter; and displaying
an indication of the overall confidence value of the most recently
measured intra-operative refraction value on the display
screen.
9. The method of claim 8 where assigning an overall confidence
value comprises: assigning a confidence value which depends on
variation of eye alignment with an optical axis of the wavefront
sensor.
10. The method of claim 8 where assigning an overall confidence
value comprises: assigning a confidence value which depends on
variation of power distribution between sampled wavefronts.
11. The method of claim 8 where assigning an overall confidence
value comprises: assigning a confidence value which depends on
variation of the average prismatic tilt of all sampled
wavefronts.
12. The method of claim 1 where intra-operatively detecting whether
the subject eye is in the phakic, aphakic, or pseudo-phakic phase
of the vision correction procedure comprises: indicating that the
subject eye is in the phakic phase of the vision correction
procedure if a pre-operative predicted value of phakic refraction
power is within a range selectable by an end user from .+-.0.5 to
.+-.4.0 diopters of an intra-operatively measured value of
refraction power of the patient eye.
13. The method of claim 1 where intra-operatively detecting whether
the subject eye is in the phakic, aphakic, or pseudo-phakic phase
of the vision correction procedure comprises: indicating that the
subject eye is in the aphakic phase of the vision correction
procedure if a pre-operative predicted value of aphakic refraction
power is within a range selectable by an end user from .+-.0.5 to
.+-.4.0 diopters of an intra-operatively measured value of
refraction power of the patient eye.
14. The method of claim 1 where intra-operatively detecting whether
the subject eye is in the phakic, aphakic, or pseudo-phakic phase
of the vision correction procedure comprises: indicating that the
subject eye is in the pseudo-phakic phase of the vision correction
procedure if a pre-operative predicted value of pseudo-phakic
refraction power is within a range selectable by an end user from
.+-.0.5 to .+-.4.0 diopters of an intra-operatively measured value
of refraction power of the patient eye.
15. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the real time image of
the subject eye is in a first portion of the display screen,
displaying the histogram of occurrence frequency distribution of
the qualified refraction values, and/or a histogram of occurrence
frequency distribution of IOL powers predicted based on an IOL
predictive algorithm that incorporates among other parameters the
aphakic refraction of the patient eye in one or more of the phakic,
aphakic, or pseudo-phakic phase of the vision correction procedure
is in a second portion of the display screen, displaying the
indication of the phase of the vision correction procedure is in a
third portion of the display screen, displaying the pre-operatively
determined target refraction value is in a fourth portion of the
display screen, and displaying the one or more of most recent
qualified intra-operative refraction values is in a fifth portion
of the display screen.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] One or more embodiments of the present invention relate
generally to intra-operative refraction or wavefront aberrometry.
In particular, one embodiment is related to means to present to a
surgeon the histogram and/or confidence level of intra-operative
refraction or wavefront aberrometry measurement during a cataract
surgery, especially the histogram, and/or confidence level of
aphakic refraction and/or the associated intra-ocular lens (IOL)
power recommendation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] A need has been identified in recent years in terms of
providing real time intra-operative refraction or wavefront
measurement feedback to a surgeon performing a refractive cataract
surgery or other vision correction procedures on the eye of a
patient. The intra-operative refraction or wavefront measurement,
especially one obtained from an aphakic eye when the natural lens
of the eye is removed, can help to guide a surgeon better determine
the optical power of an IOL (intra-ocular lens) (in terms of sphere
power for a monofocal or multi-focal or extended depth of focus IOL
or accommodating IOL, and cylinder in addition to sphere if the IOL
is a toric IOL or even higher order aberration correction if it is
a premium higher order correction IOL). Such an approach has been
shown to produce better surgical outcomes. Meanwhile, an
intra-operative pseudo-phakic refraction or wavefront measurement
can also confirm if a targeted refraction has been achieved to
within a certain acceptable tolerance and if not, further
adjustment (such as a further rotation of an implanted toric IOL or
limbal relaxing incision) can be made to finely tune the
refraction.
[0003] However, one issue associated with the use of an
intra-operative wavefront aberrometer or auto-refractor is that the
real time refraction value can vary as a result of many dynamic
surgical factors, including the alignment of the patient eye
relative to the aberrometer or auto-refractor, patient fixation and
angle alpha (angle between the center of the pupil and the visual
axis), varying pupil size, the intra-ocular pressure (IOP), the
hydration of the incision wound, the tear film, and the pressure
exerted on the cornea from eye-lid-opening speculum. With proper
control of these dynamic surgical factors and artificial
intelligence including refraction confidence calculation to qualify
and hence reject disqualified refraction/wavefront data, the
variation in the measured refraction can be controlled to a certain
range. However, there can still be some variation in the measured
refraction when a patient eye is aligned relative to the
intra-operative aberrometer or auto-refractor. This is more the
case when an eye is aphakic, as an aphakic eye generally has a
larger absolute base sphere refraction value simply because the
wavefront from an aphakic eye is more divergent than that from an
emmetropic eye. As a result, the recommended intra-ocular lens
(IOL) power based on the real time aphakic refraction (combined
with other biometric parameters) can also change in real time, for
example, when the eye is re-aligned. This can cause some confusion
to a surgeon in determining what exact IOL power to select for
implantation during a cataract surgery.
[0004] In light of the above, there is a need in the art for a
means to show a surgeon how repeatable a refraction reading is
and/or how confident the refraction is. In the aphakic state, this
will allow the surgeon to make a more informed decision in terms of
selecting a recommended IOL power and in the pseudo-phakic state,
this will allow the surgeon to finely tune the final position of an
implanted IOL until with higher confidence.
[0005] One or more embodiments of the present disclosure satisfy
one or more of the above-identified needs in the art. One
embodiment is a means to present to a surgeon a histogram of real
time refractions at each stage of a refractive cataract surgery,
i.e. phakia, aphakia and pseudo-phakia. Another embodiment is to
automatically and intra-operatively detect the phase of a cataract
surgery (i.e. to intra-operatively determine if a patient eye is
phakic, aphakic, or pseudo-phakic). Another embodiment is to
display a real-time, dynamic histogram of a recommended IOL power
calculated from aphakic refractions together with other biometric
parameters of the eye.
[0006] One aspect of the present disclosure is to record the
occurrence frequency of qualified and/or rounded real time
refractions and to display the occurrence frequency distribution or
histogram of the refraction data. This will present to the surgeon
an information rich display of quantitative refraction instead of a
most recently single qualified refraction at one point in time,
which may be more variable. Another aspect of the present
disclosure is to use phakic biometry measurement results of an eye
obtained either pre-operatively or intra-operatively to estimate
its aphakic refraction, to use an estimated aphakic refraction to
automatically detect the aphakic phase of the eye. Still another
aspect is to use intra-operative biometry measurement to determine
the cataract surgical phase of an eye. Still another aspect is to
use intra-operative Purkinje images to determine the cataract
surgical phase of an eye. Still another aspect is to combine real
time aphakic refraction with phakic and/or aphakic biometry to
calculate an IOL power per a targeted final refraction and to
present to a surgeon a dynamic histogram of the IOL power
recommendations during the aphakic phase. Still another aspect is
to optimize and personalize the IOL power calculation in a
regression manner by collecting data over a relatively large number
of patients for each surgeon to account for surgeon factors.
[0007] Another embodiment of the present disclosure is to display
the confidence level of real time intra-operative refraction. One
aspect is to calculate a confidence level or value based on an
algorithm that takes into account all wavefront and/or aberrometry
data qualifiers and to present to a surgeon the confidence level or
value as a height or length varying percentage bar. Another aspect
is to correlate the confidence percentage value to a color encoded
confidence percentage indicator (such as the word "Rx"). In this
case, the confidence value can be digitized such that for a certain
real time refraction that falls within a certain digitized
confidence value range, a certain color selected from a color
spectrum is assigned to the real time refraction and is displayed
to the surgeon.
[0008] Still another embodiment of the disclosure is to combine the
calculation of the occurrence frequency or probability distribution
of qualified refraction with the confidence level of the refraction
to produce a combined confidence weighted histogram and to present
this confidence weighted histogram to a surgeon in real time. One
aspect is to use the confidence weighted histogram to pick the most
steady aphakic refraction, and to use the chosen aphakic refraction
to calculate the IOL power. Another aspect is to allow the surgeon
the option to display only the refraction histogram and/or the
refraction confidence bar and/or the combined confidence weighted
refraction histogram to guide the surgery. In particular, at the
aphakic phase, the surgeon can select the IOL power based on the
live, dynamic IOL power histogram; and at the pseudo-phakic phase,
the surgeon can use the live refraction histogram to rotate an
implanted toric IOL or to perform a guided limbal relaxing
incision.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0009] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment system
comprising an intra-operative eye refraction measurement device, a
digital processor and a display;
[0010] FIG. 2 shows the major steps involved in the presently
disclosed means to provide a surgeon the histogram of live
refraction;
[0011] FIG. 3 shows the major steps involved in the presently
disclosed means to display the histogram of live IOL power
recommendations;
[0012] FIG. 4 shows an example display of an IOL power histogram
together with some other parameters as well as a live eye
image;
[0013] FIG. 5A shows a generic schematic diagram similar to that of
FIG. 1 but with the difference in that the intra-operative
refraction measurement device can include a camera and/or a
biometric parameter measuring sub-module, and the digital processor
is configured to automatically detect the phase of the surgery to
determine if the eye is phakic or aphakic or pseudo-phakic;
[0014] FIG. 5B shows an embodiment in which a sequential wavefront
sensor is integrated with an eye camera and an optical coherence
based biometric parameter measurement submodule.
[0015] FIG. 6 shows the major steps involved in one embodiment to
meaningfully and automatically display either a histogram of live
refraction or a histogram of IOL power recommendation or both
depending on the cataract surgical phase;
[0016] FIG. 7 shows an example display similar to that of FIG. 4
but with a confidence percentage bar.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] Intra-operative refraction of a patient eye (or
alternatively, a subject eye) undergoing a refractive cataract
surgery using an intra-operative refraction measurement device such
as a wavefront aberrometer or auto-refractor has been shown to
improve the refractive surgical outcome. Traditionally, ophthalmic
refraction measurements are done in a snap-shot or single
measurement manner (although such a single measurement can involve
the averaging of a number of snap shots of measurements). When such
a measurement is transferred to intra-operative refraction of a
patient eye undergoing a refractive cataract surgery, it tends to
hide the variability of the measurement result as the refraction of
an eye undergoing a surgery is dependent on a number of dynamic
surgical factors, including the alignment of the eye relative to
the intra-operative refraction device, the condition of the cornea
as well as the condition of the anterior chamber of the eye. In
fact, even with the use of a snap-shot refraction measurement
device, when a surgeon (or other operator) does multiple
intra-operative measurements, the refraction measurement results
will most likely vary and this variation can cause confusion to a
cataract surgeon, especially if the surgeon relies on aphakic
intra-operative refraction to determine the IOL power to be
selected. Such variability in the pseudo-phakic phase can also
cause confusion to a surgeon if the surgeon relies on
intra-operative pseudo-phakic refraction to determine the position
of an implanted IOL such as the orientation axis of a toric IOL or
the amount of limbal relax incision to neutralize astigmatism. The
variability of intra-operative refraction became more evident after
real time intra-operative wavefront aberrometers were introduced to
the refractive cataract surgery practice.
[0018] In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure,
a real time eye refraction measurement device is coupled to a
digital processor and a display. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram
of such an embodiment, in which a real time intra-operative eye
refraction measurement device such as a wavefront sensor or an
auto-refractor 102 is coupled to a digital processor 104 and is
linked to a display 106. The digital processor 104 is configured to
capture/record intra-operative refraction (or wavefront
measurement) and to process the refraction or wavefront data in
real time to qualify the data and to reject disqualified data.
[0019] The qualification of the real time data can be based on
various qualification parameters or qualifiers. One important
qualifier is the alignment of a patient eye relative to the
refraction measurement device. From a practical point of view, for
example, when an eye is aligned to within .+-.0.1 mm of the
refraction measurement device optical axis, the alignment can be
considered very good and when the eye is aligned to within .+-.0.5
mm of the device optical axis, the alignment can be considered
still acceptable. Therefore, a threshold of .+-.0.5 mm can be
established as the pass/fail criterion for qualifying or
disqualifying the data in terms of eye alignment relative to the
refraction measurement device.
[0020] Another important qualifier is the uniformity of optical
power or energy among different sampled sub-wavefronts. A
uniformity ratio can be defined as the relative standard deviation
of optical energy or power among different sampled sub-wavefronts,
i.e. as standard deviation divided by the average value. As an
example, the uniformity ratio threshold can be 6%. The data
qualification process will therefore reject any refraction frame
data that has a uniformity ratio greater than the threshold.
Alternatively, the uniformity qualification parameter can also be
defined as an occlusion parameter which is the maximum minus
minimum value divided by the average in terms of optical energy or
power among different sampled sub-wavefronts. An associated
threshold (such as three times that of the uniformity ratio) can
also be defined to qualify the refraction data. Note that this
qualification process will likely remove data associated with
surgical factors that partially block the overall wavefront light
beam or reflect the incident light probe beam that travels to a
patient eye to create the returned wavefront beam. These surgical
factors can include, for example, a surgical tool positioned in the
probe beam path, thus reflecting the probe beam back to the
refraction measurement device; a surgical tool positioned in the
wavefront beam path that partially block and hence attenuate light
related to some sub-wavefronts; an air bubble or cortex leftovers
inside the anterior chamber or the lens capsule of a patient eye
that either absorb(s) or scatter(s) light related to some
sub-wavefronts; a blob or puddle of visco-elastic material or
irrigation solution left on the cornea of a patient eye that
directs away light related to some sub-wavefronts.
[0021] Another qualifier is the amount or degree of higher order
aberrations. This qualifier can be considered as how good the
overall aberrations fit as sphere and cylinder refractive errors.
If the fitting is not good, we can consider the overall wavefront
as more departed from being characterized as a pure combination of
sphere and cylinder refractive errors. The degree of departure of
the overall wavefront from a combination of sphere and cylinder
refractive errors can be defined as the square root of the
summation of the square of the distance of each data point from its
expected position on an ellipse that represents a combination of
sphere and cylinder. A threshold can be established such that if
the degree of departure is above the threshold, the wavefront data
will be disqualified. Factors that can increase this qualification
value include a surgical tool partially blocking the wavefront,
keratoconus, scars on a cornea, air bubbles or cortex leftovers
inside an eye, visco-elastic gel on a cornea, and irrigation
event.
[0022] Still another qualifier is the average prismatic tilt of the
overall wavefront. For example, if the averaged overall wavefront
tilt is pointing at an angle within 1 degree from the optical axis
of the eye refraction measurement device, the prismatic tilt of the
overall wavefront can be considered very highly qualified. A
threshold of, for example, 11 degree can be set and if one finds
that the averaged overall wavefront tilt is pointing at an angle
greater than the threshold, the wavefront data can be
disqualified.
[0023] Still another qualifier is the overall signal strength of
the wavefront. If there is no eye under the refraction measurement
device, for example, when the device is sending the probe beam
directly to the floor of an OR (operating room), the wavefront
signal returned from the floor will generally be much weaker than
that from a real eye. A signal strength range can therefore be
defined that covers the full range over all phases and all
pigmentation eyes. When the returned wavefront signal strength is
outside this pre-defined range, the data will be disqualified.
[0024] Still another qualifier is the steadiness of the wavefront
data from one frame to the next. In a transient situation such as
the movement of a patient eye, the disturbance of the wavefront by
an irrigation event, or the movement of a surgical tool within the
wavefront path, the wavefront data received may not be steady, i.e.
measured refraction changing more than desired from frame to frame.
A threshold can be established to require that the change in the
sphere and cylinder value from one frame to the next need to be no
more than, for example, .+-.0.5 diopter. If the change is more than
this threshold, the data from both frames will be disqualified.
[0025] Note that there can be more qualification parameters. In
addition to the qualification of the wavefront data, the digital
processor 104 can also be further configured to process the
qualified data to produce a real time dynamic histogram of the
intra-operative refraction (or wavefront measurement) and to
display such a histogram on the display. As time goes on during a
particular phase of a cataract surgery (such as the aphakic phase),
the histogram will also be updated in real time to reflect how
steady a measured refraction with a high occurrence frequency
gradually becomes.
[0026] As an option, the digital processor 104 can also be
configured to digitize the qualified refraction data, for example,
in quarter diopter steps, to further limit small variations of the
live refraction within a quarter diopter to the same value.
[0027] By displaying such a histogram to a surgeon in real time
during a cataract surgery, the surgeon can know which refraction
value is produced most often by the intra-operative refraction
measurement device and hence use that value as the more likely
"true" refraction of the patient eye in that surgery phase.
[0028] In addition, the digital processor 104 can also be
configured to automatically recognize the qualified refraction that
has the highest occurrence frequency and directly present this
refraction to the surgeon. It can be understood that this
refraction may change as the cataract surgery initially enters a
phase and will gradually stabilize once the eye is properly
prepared and conditioned for refraction measurement and is aligned
to the refraction measurement device 102 for a certain alignment
holding time. With practice, a surgeon will figure out a reasonable
holding time to enable the refraction having the highest occurrence
frequency to stabilize.
[0029] As an option, the time length for the refraction that will
be used to produce the histogram can also be pre-defined such that
older qualified refraction data are automatically removed while
more current new qualified data are added. The time length can also
be personalized for a particular surgeon and be limited to a
reasonable and practical value. For example, the time length can be
3 seconds to 10 seconds, during which a surgeon can normally keep
the eye position of a patient aligned for a reasonably "reliable"
high occurrence frequency refraction to be displayed.
[0030] FIG. 2 shows the major steps involved in one embodiment to
obtain and present to a surgeon the histogram of live
intra-operative refraction. The first step 202 is to capture/record
intra-operative refraction or wavefront data. The second step 204
is to process the refraction or wavefront data to reject
disqualified data. The third step 206 is to process the qualified
historic data and to produce a real time histogram. The fourth step
208 is to display a live refraction histogram on a display.
[0031] As an option, instead of displaying the histogram that
contains all the qualified refraction values, the last step can be
to display digitized refraction that has the highest occurrence
frequency or to display only a few digitized refraction values
including the one that has the highest occurrence frequency as well
as a few surrounding ones (such as one or two on each side) that
have occurrence frequencies next to the highest occurrence
frequency.
[0032] Alternatively and more advantageously, as another embodiment
of the present disclosure, instead of being configured to display a
continuously updated histogram of real time refraction, the digital
processor can be configured to combine the qualified aphakic
refraction data with biometric data of the eye obtained either
pre-operatively or intra-operatively to calculate a recommended IOL
power, to produce a live dynamic histogram of the IOL power
recommendation, and to display such a histogram on a display. This
will be especially beneficial to a surgeon in terms of helping the
surgeon to determine which recommended IOL power to choose for
implantation. In general, the recommended IOL power will change as
an aphakic eye is initially prepared and aligned to the
intra-operative refraction measurement device 102 and the
recommended IOL power will stabilized as the aphakic eye is held
aligned longer. In practice, after a surgeon has prepared and
conditioned an aphakic eye, he/she can align the patient eye and
hold the patient head steady for a certain time (for example 3 to 5
seconds) to get a relatively steady recommended IOL power that has
the highest occurrence frequency. The surgeon can then select this
recommended IOL power or compare this IOL power with that based
purely on pre-operative biometry data and select a value of his/her
choice such as a value in between these two values.
[0033] It should be understood that the term biometric data of an
eye can include all anatomical parameters of an eye that can be
measured either pre-operatively or intra-operatively. In practice,
these parameters can be measured optically and ultrasonically and
they include axial length, anterior chamber depth, corneal anterior
(K or keratometry values) and posterior profiles, corneal steep
meridian and flat meridian axis and power, corneal astigmatism,
cornea thickness, aqueous depth, lens thickness, lens anterior and
posterior profile, pupil size or diameter, pupil center, white to
white distance, iris center, and retina thickness, etc.
[0034] The reason why these parameters can be combined with aphakic
refraction to better predict an IOL is that without aphakic
refraction, one can only indirectly calculate and hence predict the
optical power of the cornea using for example, a keratometer or
corneal topographer or an OCT or a Pentacam. With aphakic
refraction, the optical power of the cornea (in both sphere and
cylinder) can be directly measured with higher accuracy. Once the
cornea optical power, the axial length of an eye and a targeted
final refraction is determined, and the final effective lens
position of the IOL is predicted, the IOL power can be calculated.
In terms of predicting the effective lens position of an IOL, the
prediction is generally highly dependent on a so called A-constant
that reflects the property of haptics or arms of a particular IOL
and the lens itself, which is manufacturer dependent. Meanwhile,
the effective lens position of an IOL is also dependent on the
anatomic parameters of an eye and these anatomic or biometric
parameters include the white to white distance, the anterior
chamber depth and the lens capsule position. Therefore, a
combination of aphakic refraction with pre- or intra-operative
biometric measurement can result in a better surgical outcome.
[0035] It should be noted that all other features that have been
discussed with respect to real time refraction can be transferred
to real time IOL power recommendation at the aphakic phase.
Meanwhile, at the aphakic phase, one can also either configure the
digital processor to produce and display a histogram of real time
refraction or configure it to produce and display a histogram of
real time IOL power recommendation or even configure it to produce
and display both a histogram of real time refraction and a
histogram of real time IOL power recommendation.
[0036] As in the case of refraction, the digital processor 104 can
also be configured to digitize the IOL power calculated based on
the qualified refraction data and the pre- or intra-op biometry
data. For example, the digitization of IOL power recommendation can
be in half diopter steps to further limit small variations of the
recommended IOL power within half diopter to the same value. In
addition, the digital processor 104 can also be configured to
automatically recognize the calculated IOL power that has the
highest occurrence frequency and directly present this IOL power to
the surgeon.
[0037] Similarly, as another option, the time length for
calculating the IOL power histogram can also be pre-defined such
that older IOL power data are automatically removed while more
current new IOL power data are added. Again the time length can be
personalized for a particular surgeon and be limited to a
reasonable and practical value. For example, the time length can be
3 seconds to 10 seconds, during which a surgeon can normally keep
the position of the eye of a patient eye aligned steady for a
reasonably "steady" IOL power recommendation having the highest
occurrence frequency to be displayed.
[0038] FIG. 3 shows the major steps involved in the presently
disclosed means to display the histogram of live IOL power
recommendation at the aphakic phase. The first step 302 is to
capture/record intra-operative refraction (or wavefront
measurement) data. The second step 304 is to process the data in
real time to qualify the data and to reject disqualified data. The
third step 306 is to calculate a recommended IOL power based on the
qualified aphakic refraction data and pre- or intra-op biometry
data. The fourth step 308 is to process the IOL power
recommendation data to produce a live dynamic histogram of the
recommended IOL power. The fifth step 310 is to display such an IOL
power histogram on a display.
[0039] As in the case of refraction, optionally, instead of
displaying the histogram that contains all the IOL power
recommendation values, the last step can be to display only a few
(such as 3) digitized IOL powers including the one that has the
highest occurrence frequency as well as a few surrounding ones
(such as 2 with one on each side) that have their occurrence
frequencies next to and on both sides of the highest occurrence
frequency.
[0040] FIG. 4 shows an example of such an IOL power histogram
display together with some other parameters as well as a live eye
image. Note that in the right column of the display, there is an
IOL power histogram 402 that shows three digitized IOL power
recommendations, i.e. 25.0, 25.5 and 26.0 diopters. Associated with
each recommended IOL power is a vertical bar with a height that
represents the respective relative occurrence frequency or
probability. In this case, the most frequently occurred IOL power
recommendation is 25.5 diopter. The next most frequently occurred
IOL power recommendation is 26.0 diopter.
[0041] In addition, as another embodiment, the total number of
measurements/IOL calculations that are included in the histogram
can be displayed in real time. Note that this value is not shown in
FIG. 4 and it can be shown anywhere on the display, but is
preferably shown directly on or next to the histogram.
[0042] In FIG. 4, the live display also shows a live eye image 412;
which eye 413 (left or right) is being operated, the orientation of
the eye 414 relative to the surgeon (temporal or superior), a soft
fixation light switch 415 (to turn a blinking fixation light on and
off), a soft button 416 for capturing one or more snap shot(s) of
the current screen print, the phase of surgery 417 (in this case,
aphakia); a soft session start/stop button 418. On the right
column, in addition to the histogram 402, there is a box 401 that
shows the pre-op targeted refraction and the type of IOL intended
to be used for implantation; the three boxes 404, 405 and 406 show
the latest three qualified and digitized real time refractions
together with their respective corresponding IOL power
recommendations and the corresponding expected final pseudo-phakic
refractions; the bottom box 408 shows the current real time
refraction reading together with its corresponding spherical
equivalent (SE). Note that this current real time refraction
reading can be qualified with a lower qualification or confidence
threshold and the values can be rounded to the 0.01 digit of a
diopter.
[0043] At this point, a question to ask is how the phase of surgery
can be determined intra-operatively to ensure the recommended IOL
power makes sense, i.e., the refraction value being used for the
calculation of the IOL power needs to be that from the aphakic
phase. Note that one feature in this disclosure is to automatically
and intra-operatively detect the phase of a cataract surgery.
[0044] FIG. 5A shows a generic schematic diagram of such a device.
Compared to the FIG. 1, the difference is in that the eye
refraction measurement device 502 may contain other eye property
measurement submodules and the digital processor is configured to
use pre- or intra-operative biometric and/or eye image data and
real time refraction data to automatically determine the phase of
the eye undergoing a cataract surgery, i.e. from phakia, to aphakia
and to pseudo-phakia.
[0045] It is well known that there is a relatively big change in
the average refraction (i.e. spherical equivalent) of an eye from
its phakic phase to its aphakic phase, and also mostly likely from
its aphakic to its pseudo-phakic phase (except for the case when
the eye is extremely long). In fact, if spherical equivalent is
used to gauge the difference, the difference in diopter value from
a phakic phase to an aphakic phase of the same eye is of the order
of about 10 diopters. In one embodiment of the present disclosure,
pre- or intra-operative biometry measurement results and/or
pre-operative refraction (or wavefront measurement) data are used
to determine an expected refraction of the eye in its phakic phase
and aphakic phase, and targeted refraction is used to determine
expected pseudo-phakic refraction. Once a cataract surgery starts,
qualified real time refraction measurement result is consistently
compared with the expected refraction of the eye at different
phases. If the qualified real time refraction (such as spherical
equivalent) is within a certain tolerance range (for example,
.+-.3.0 D or more preferably a range selectable by an end user from
.+-.0.5 D to .+-.4.0 D) from the expected phakic refraction (such
as the pre-op refraction or a calculated phakic refraction using
pure eye biometry data or a combination of these data), the state
of the eye can be considered as phakic; if the qualified real time
refraction is within a certain tolerance range (for example,
.+-.3.0 D, or more preferably a range selectable by an end user
from .+-.0.5 D to .+-.4.0 D) from the expected aphakic refraction
(such as a value calculated using theoretical vergence formula
based on axial eye length and corneal power derived from
K-measurements), the state of the eye can be considered as aphakic;
and finally, if the qualified real time refraction is within a
certain tolerance range (for example, .+-.3.0 D, or more preferably
a range selectable by an end user from .+-.0.5 D to .+-.4.0 D) from
the targeted refraction after the aphakic phase, the state of the
eye can be considered as pseudo-phakic.
[0046] Note that the reason for choosing the example of .+-.3.0 D
as one preferred tolerance range is that in most cases, temporary
surgical factors such as the hydration of incision wound, the
change in the intra-ocular pressure, and the pressure exerted on a
cornea from a speculum, will not cause the average refraction of
the eye to depart from its expected value by more than
approximately .+-.2.0D.
[0047] In some cases like a dense cataract or femto laser cases,
either pre-op or intra-op phakic refraction of the eye may be
impossible or unreliable due to strong scattering of light by the
dense cataract lens or some other strong light scattering regions
in the eye such as optical bubbles created by a femto laser. Also,
if the eye is extremely long, the difference in refraction between
its aphakic phase and its pseudo-phakic phase can be smaller than
the tolerance range which can cause an overlap between the expected
refraction in the aphakic phase and that in the pseudo-phakic
phase. In these cases, using just expected refractions to compare
with real time refraction may not be enough to differentiate the
phases of a cataract surgery.
[0048] As an embodiment, information from real time Purkinje images
can be used to help determine the phase. This is because the
Purkinje images are very different from one phase to another phase.
In fact, the natural lens of an eye is relatively thicker when
compared with an artificial intra-ocular lens (IOL) and the
refractive index of a natural lens is generally lower than that of
an IOL. Therefore, the third and fourth Purkinje images created by
the front and back interfaces of a natural lens are less bright and
more separated as compared to those of an IOL. Further, in the
aphakic phase, due to the fact that there is no natural or
artificial lens in the eye, there are only the first and second
Purkinje images created by the front and back interfaces of the
cornea. In terms of hardware, there is a need for a live eye camera
to be associated or coupled to the eye refraction measurement
device, and fortunately, this is generally the case as such a
camera is needed to guide a surgeon in aligning an eye to the eye
refraction measurement device. Note that in FIG. 5A, such a camera
508 is represented by a box linked to the eye refraction
measurement device 502 via a dashed line and this camera 508 can be
integrated inside the eye refraction measurement device as will be
discussed shortly in FIG. 5B.
[0049] As still another embodiment, an eye biometric parameter
measurement submodule 510 is coupled to or integrated inside the
eye refraction measurement device 502. In FIG. 5A this is shown
with the box 510 linked by a dashed line to the box 502. The
submodule 510 can be an optical coherence tomography (OCT) module
or simply an optical low coherence reflectometer (OLCR) as will be
discussed shortly in more detail in FIG. 5B. The difference between
an OCT and an OLCR is that an OCT can perform two dimensional
scanning to obtain a three dimensional volumetric data set of
optical reflection/scattering information and an OLCR does not do
any transverse scanning so it can only obtain optical
reflection/scattering information along a single line. However, in
terms of intra-operatively obtaining information on whether there
is a natural lens, or no lens or an artificial IOL in an eye, both
OCT and OLCR can do the job simply because a phakic natural lens is
much thicker with less strong reflection/scattering from its
optical interfaces than a pseudo-phakic IOL, and meanwhile in the
aphakic phase, there is no lens at all. Both OCT and OLCR can hence
detect these conditions. Therefore, the digital processor in FIG.
5A can be configured to use either OCT or OLCR obtained information
to determine the phase of a cataract surgery.
[0050] Note that even though either an OCT or an OLCR can provide
the information on the phase of the eye under a cataract surgery,
an OCT is preferred because it can also provide information on
other anatomic or biometric parameters which is useful in
calculating the IOL power as we discussed before.
[0051] To illustrate a more specific embodiment, FIG. 5B shows a
schematic diagram in which a sequential wavefront sensor is
integrated with an eye camera and an optical coherence tomographer
(OCT) based biometric parameter measurement submodule. In this
illustration, a sequential wavefront sensor 502 is attached to a
surgical microscope 500, and an OCT based eye biometric parameter
measurement submodule 510 as well as an eye camera 508 is
integrated with the wavefront sensor 502.
[0052] The surgical microscope has its own objective lens 501. A
main beam splitter 561 is positioned below the objective lens 501
to separate and combine visible and infrared light beams. The main
beam splitter 561 is transmissive to visible light meant for the
microscope 500 and is reflective to near infrared light meant for
the wavefront sensor and the camera as well as the biometric
parameter measurement submodule. A shield window or shield lens 552
is arranged below the beam splitter 561 and a number flood
illumination light sources (such as LEDs) are arranged around the
shield to provide flood illumination to the patient eye for the
camera to capture a live eye image.
[0053] The wavefront sensor module 502 comprises two 4-F relay
stages with its light path folded to relay the wavefront from the
corneal or pupil plane of a patient eye 599 to a wavefront sampling
aperture 518. The first relay stage comprises a first lens 554 and
a second lens 516 and relays the wavefront (with certain optical
magnification or demagnification depending on the focal length of
the first and second lens) from the corneal or pupil plane to an
intermediate image plane where a dynamic transmissive focus
variable lens 578 is disposed. This focus variable lens can be used
to partially or fully compensate the sphere component of the
wavefront or to dynamically change its focus to enable a scanning
of the sphere component of the wavefront.
[0054] The second relay stage comprises a third lens 540 and a
fourth lens 542 and further relays the wavefront from the
intermediate plane (where the dynamic transmissive focus variable
lens 578 is disposed) to the final wavefront sampling aperture 518
plane. A mega-aperture 577 can be arranged at the first Fourier
transform plane to prevent light outside a certain diopter range
from entering the rest of the wavefront relay path. A band pass
filter 576 can also be arranged in the second relay stage to reject
light outside an intended wavefront sensing spectral range from
entering the rest of the wavefront relay light path. A MEMS
(microelectrical mechanical system) mirror 512 folds the beam path
and scans the wavefront sequentially around the aperture 518 so
that different sub-wavefronts are sampled. A sub-wavefront focusing
lens 520 is positioned next to the sample aperture 518 to focus the
sampled sub-wavefronts to a position sensing device 522. A diffuser
(not shown in FIG. 5B) can be arranged in front of the position
sensing device 522 to ensure a certain light spot size on position
sensing device 522.
[0055] The OCT based biometric parameter measurement submodule 510
can be based on an optical fiber low coherence interferometer.
Light from a low coherence light source (such as a fiber pigtailed
superluminescent diode or SLD) 572 is directed to a directional
coupler 590 and is split into a sample arm 588 and a reference arm
592. The reference arm can have a fiber coil that ensures an
overall reference optical path length approximately matched to that
of the sample arm. Light in the sample arm can be collimated and/or
focused and/or scanned. Lens 586, scanner 582, lens 584 and scanner
580 are just some exemplary possibilities in terms of
manipulating/scanning the sample beam. The sample light beam is
sent to a patient eye through a polarization beam splitter (PBS)
574. Sample light wave returned from the eye (especially by all the
eye optical interfaces) that has the original polarization can be
collected by the same sample arm optics to recombine with the light
wave from the reference arm to create optical low coherence
interference and then sent to a detector or a detection module 594
for signal extraction. Sample light from the eye having an
orthogonal polarization will be reflected by the PBS 574 to be
directed to the wavefront sensor module for wavefront or refraction
measurement.
[0056] The eye camera module 508 comprises a camera lens 568 and an
image sensor 562. The camera lens 568 can be designed to work in
combination with the first lens 554 to form an eye anterior image
on the image sensor 562. An imaging beam splitter 560 can be
arranged to reflect light of the flood light spectral band meant
for live eye camera imaging to the eye camera module 508. The
spectral band of the SLD can be selected to be different such that
light in that spectral band will pass through the beam splitter 560
and be channeled to the rest of the wavefront sensing path.
[0057] Note that the wavefront sensor as illustrated in FIGS. 5A
and 5B does not have to be a sequential wavefront sensor, it can be
any refraction measurement device. The eye biometric parameter
measurement device or submodule does not need to be limited to an
OCT or OLCR, it can be a scheimpflug camera or even a nuclear
magnetic resonance imaging module. The spectral band used for
wavefront sensing does not need to be the same as the one used for
biometric parameter measurement. In such a case, a WDM (wavelength
division multiplexing) fiber coupler can be used to combine and
split the two spectral bands of light.
[0058] Although auto-detection of the phase of an eye under a
cataract surgery is desired, at this moment, it should also be
noted that another embodiment of the present disclosure is to allow
the surgeon to manually select or interrupt to select the phase so
that it can be ensured that the refraction value used for IOL
calculation is that from the aphakic phase.
[0059] Note also that as still another embodiment, the digital
processor 504 can be configured to combine the information provided
by either the pre-op biometry and/or refraction data or the
intra-op refraction data or the intra-op Purkinje image data or the
intra-op biometry data to determine the phase of a cataract
surgery.
[0060] With the automatic detection of the cataract surgical phase
of an eye, the digital processor can be further configured to only
display refraction histogram in the phakic phase and pseudo-phakic
phases, and to only display IOL power histogram in the aphakic
phase or to display both refraction histogram and IOL power
histogram in the aphakic phase.
[0061] FIG. 6 shows the major steps involved in one embodiment to
meaningfully and automatically display either a histogram of
intra-operative refraction or a histogram of IOL power
recommendation or both. The first step 602 is to automatically
determine the phase of an eye under cataract surgery. If the eye is
phakic, the next step 604 is to display the histogram of
intra-operative refraction in the phakic phase. If the eye is
aphakic, the next step 606 is to display the histogram of IOL power
recommendation or to display both the histogram of refraction and
the histogram of IOL power recommendation. If the eye is
pseudo-phakic, the next step 608 is to display the histogram of
intra-operative refraction in the pseudo-phakic phase.
[0062] As another embodiment of the present disclosure, a
confidence level of intra-operative refraction data is calculated
and displayed in real time. As will be explained in more detail
shortly, the confidence level value can be calculated based on an
algorithm that takes into account different qualifiers, including
alignment of the eye, wavefront signal strength, the optical energy
or power distribution among all sampled sub-wavefronts, the overall
average prismatic tilt of all the sampled sub-wavefronts, the
amount of higher order aberrations, etc. In one embodiment, the
confidence value is associated with the most recent qualified
refraction.
[0063] In terms of displaying the confidence level or value in real
time, one embodiment is to display it as a height or length varying
percentage bar; another embodiment is to correlate the confidence
percentage value to a color from a rainbow spectrum with the
confidence percentage indicator (such as the word "Rx" or the
numerical value that shows the refraction) being shown in different
colors. In this latter case, the confidence value can be digitized
such that for a certain real time refraction that falls within a
certain digitized confidence level range, a certain color is
assigned to the real time refraction and is displayed to the
surgeon.
[0064] FIG. 7 is an example live display in which a confidence
percentage bar 703 is shown in addition to those pieces of
information shown in FIG. 4. Note that the confidence percentage
bar can be arranged anywhere on the live display but is preferred
to be next to the current qualified refraction or current IOL power
recommendation. In FIG. 7, the confidence percentage bar 703 is
below the histogram 702 and above the most recent qualified
refraction. Note that in the aphakic phase, as there is a
correspondence between a qualified refraction and an associated IOL
power recommendation, therefore, the confidence percentage is also
a confidence value for the current IOL power recommendation.
[0065] As an alternative, in another embodiment, instead of showing
the confidence percentage of the current refraction, the confidence
percentage shown can also be that associated with the refraction
that has the highest occurrence frequency (i.e. the one having the
highest value in the refraction histogram or the one having the
highest value in the IOL power histogram). In addition, the
confidence percentage bar can also be color coded such that one or
more threshold(s) can be established to indicate to a surgeon if
the confidence level is high or medium or low. For example, when
the confidence value is above 90%, the confidence bar can be in
green color, when the confidence value is between 75% and 90%, the
confidence bar color can be yellow, when the confidence value is
between 50% and 75%, the color of the confidence bar can be orange,
and when the confidence value is below 50%, the color can be grey.
These color codings can be configured per a surgeon's personalized
preference as well. Similar color coding can also be applied to the
font color of the refraction and/or IOL power and/or expected final
pseudo-phakic refraction values.
[0066] In terms of calculating the overall confidence level value,
we can assume that the thresholds for different qualifiers have
been established and that the refraction data being processed have
passed all the qualification thresholds. Then for each qualifier, a
range can be defined between a practical good case and a threshold
case and a confidence percentage value can be assigned to each
qualifier or qualification parameter within the range. The overall
confidence level can then be defined as a function of each
individual qualifier confidence percentage values such as the
average.
[0067] For example, consider that the degree of eye alignment
relative to the refraction measurement device is a qualifier. From
a practical point of view, when the eye is aligned to within
.+-.0.1 mm of the optical axis of the eye refraction measurement
device, the confidence level can be considered as 100%. Assume that
the qualification threshold is established as when the eye is
aligned to within .+-.0.5 mm of the device optical axis and the
corresponding confidence level for this threshold case is 0%. Then
for an arbitrary eye alignment that is between the .+-.0.1 mm case
and the .+-.0.5 mm threshold case, the confidence percentage value
can be assumed to be linear or non-linear. In the linear case, if
the eye center is 0.2 mm away from the optical axis, the
corresponding eye alignment confidence level will be 75% (0.2 mm is
three quarter from 0.5 mm over the range between 0.1 mm and 0.5
mm).
[0068] Similarly, if the uniformity of optical energy or power
distribution among all sampled sub-wavefronts is another qualifier.
Then from a practical point of view, when the uniformity ratio
(standard deviation divided by the average) is 2%, the uniformity
confidence level can be considered 100%. If the uniformity ratio
threshold is 6% which corresponds to a uniformity confidence level
of 0%, then assuming a linear relationship, a uniformity ratio of,
say, 3% will result in a uniformity confidence percentage value of
75% (3% is three quarter away from 6% over the range between 2% and
6%).
[0069] We can propagate the same argument to one more qualifier,
the average prismatic tilt of the overall wavefront. From a
practical point of view, when the average prismatic tilt of the
overall wavefront is within 1 degree relative to the optical axis
of the refraction measurement device, the confidence level can be
considered as 100%. Assuming that the threshold is 11 degree which
corresponds to a confidence value of 0%, then for an arbitrary
average prismatic tilt of 4 degree, under the assumption of a
linear relationship, the corresponding confidence level will be 70%
(4 degree is 70% away from 11 degree over the range between 1
degree and 11 degree).
[0070] Similar calculations can be applied to other qualifiers,
including overall wavefront signal strength, frame to frame
refraction difference, and the amount of higher order aberrations,
etc. An overall confidence level can be defined as the average of
all the individual confidence levels. The overall confidence level
can also be defined with different weighting factors depending on
the importance of a particular qualifier.
[0071] Note that there are many other ways to calculate the
confidence level associated with each qualifier and non-linear
relationship can be established across the range between a
practically good enough case and a threshold case. For example,
instead of using a linear relationship across the range, a
non-linear relationship such as a square root relationship can be
employed. In such as case, a 75% confidence level in the linear
relationship case will be equal to SQRT(75%)=86.6% in the
non-linear relationship case, and a 36% confidence level in the
linear relationship case will be equal to SQRT(36%)=60% in the
non-linear relationship case.
[0072] Meanwhile, the overall confidence level can also be
non-linear in terms of its association with different qualifier's
confidence levels. For example, some qualifiers, like the alignment
of the eye and the overall prismatic tilt in the aphakic phase can
have a higher weighting as compared to other qualifiers such as the
amount of higher order aberrations. Therefore, above shown method
to calculate the confidence level is only exemplary.
[0073] In addition, there can also be a combined consideration of
the confidence level and the steadiness of a qualified refraction.
One embodiment of the disclosure is to combine the calculation of
the occurrence frequency distribution of qualified refractions with
the confidence of the corresponding refractions to produce a
combined confidence weighted histogram and to display this
confidence weighted histogram to a surgeon in real time. Note that
in such a case, the modified histogram can show a digitized
refraction that is the tallest in the histogram but the refraction
may not have the highest occurrence frequency simply because it may
have a high confidence level that has been weighted and factored in
the histogram. Accordingly, the recommended IOL power can also be
modified to factor in the calculation of the occurrence frequency
distribution of IOL power and the confidence level associated with
that IOL power, and to produce a combined confidence weighted
histogram of IOL power recommendation.
[0074] Note that these modifications to the histogram can also be
optimized over time through regression. Artificial intelligence or
neural network can be built in an algorithm for a particular
surgeon to automatically adjust the weighting factors of different
qualifiers using clinical data collected over a large number of
patients and to produce an optimized weighting function that will
produce a statistically optimized real time refraction or real time
IOL power recommendation, thus leading to a statistically optimized
surgical outcome for that particular surgeon.
[0075] Note also that all additional features and embodiment
variations as mentioned in the refraction and IOL recommendation
histogram examples can be applied to the confidence weighted
refraction and/or confidence weighted IOL power recommendation
cases. For example, automatic detection of the phase of an eye
under a cataract surgery can be implemented to determine if a
confidence weighted refraction histogram should be displayed (like
in phakia and pseudo-phakia) or an associated confidence weighted
IOL power recommendation histogram should be displayed (like in
aphakia).
[0076] In addition, in the aphakic phase, the confidence weighted
refraction histogram can also be used to automatically select the
most likely "true" aphakic refraction and this selected aphakic
refraction can be used to calculate an IOL power using a regression
formula that also takes into consideration the biometry data
collected pre- or intra-operatively as well as the statistical data
collected over a large number of patients. In practice, once a
surgeon has conditioned an aphakic eye, and had the eye positioned
steady and aligned, overtime, this recommended IOL power will be
continuously updated on the display and will gradually become
steady to give the surgeon higher confidence in picking the power
of an IOL to be implanted.
[0077] Note also that the discussion we have had in regard to the
power of an IOL can be extended to and should be considered to be
extendable to the case of a toric IOL in which the power of the IOL
refers to the both the sphere and the cylinder instead of just the
sphere of a monofocal IOL. In addition, the extension should also
be applied to the selection of more advanced IOLs including
extended depth of focus IOLs, bi-focal or tri-focal or multi-focal
IOLs, accommodating IOLs (AIOL) and even recommendation of LRI
(limbal relaxing incision) or CRI (corneal relaxing incision) in
terms of the position and/or direction of the incision and the
length of the incision. In other words, the refraction or IOL power
recommendation produced by the artificial intelligence of the
presently disclosed means can be used to prescribe not only the
sphere but also the cylinder and cylinder axis for a refraction
procedure. Moreover, since the device being disclosed to measure
the optical refraction property of a patient eye is not limited to
an auto-refractor but should include a wavefront sensor as well as
one or more optical biometry measurement devices, the disclosure
should therefore be considered as including higher order
aberrations and hence the prescription as exemplified in terms of
IOL power recommendation etc. can also be extended to include
prescription in correcting higher order aberrations such as coma,
trefoil and spherical aberration.
[0078] In addition, as one embodiment of the present disclosure,
the digital processor can also be configured to store stabilized
prescriptions or IOL power recommendations or histogram(s) obtained
while the eye is aligned and to keep some of those prescriptions
still displayed for a predefined time period even after the eye is
moved away from alignment.
[0079] In addition, in further embodiments of the present
disclosure, the display of information can be configured such that
any one of: the real time image of the subject eye; the histogram
of occurrence frequency distribution of the qualified refraction
values, and/or a histogram of occurrence frequency distribution of
IOL powers predicted based on an IOL predictive algorithm that
incorporates among other parameters the aphakic refraction of the
patient eye in one or more of the phakic, aphakic, or pseudo-phakic
phase of the vision correction procedure; the indication of the
phase of the vision correction procedure, displaying the
pre-operatively determined target refraction value; the one or more
of most recent qualified intra-operative refraction values; and
sampled wavefronts having overall signal strength higher than one
threshold value and/or lower than another threshold value can be
displayed in any one of a first portion of the display screen, a
second portion of the display screen, a third portion of the
display screen, a fourth portion of the display screen, a fifth
portion of the display screen, and/or a sixth portion of the
display screen.
[0080] Although various embodiments that incorporate the teachings
of the present invention have been shown and described in detail
herein, those skilled in the art can readily devise many other
varied embodiments that still incorporate these teachings.
* * * * *