Apparatus and method for detecting overheating during laser surgery

摘要

A method and apparatus for improving the safety of a surgical procedure involving delivery of laser energy to a tissue, involves enhancing or increasing the detectability of radiation emitted by the tissue or any portion of a surgical instrument or device by providing a sacrificial material that absorbs radiation emitted during the surgical procedure, increasing the temperature of a surface on which the material is disposed and/or causing damage radiation to be emitted in a way that can be detected by monitoring the temperature of the surface and/or radiation, including infrared and/or visible light, emitted by the surface. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the radiation absorbing material is a sheath arranged to surround the fiber.

主权项

1. Apparatus for therapeutic application of energy to a tissue, comprising:
a delivery fiber arranged to deliver optical energy from a laser to a treatment site at a distal end of the delivery fiber; and a feedback circuit including a detector arranged to detect overheating of, or damage radiation emitted by, at least one of: (a) an instrument used in said therapeutic application of energy and (b) said tissue; and a sacrificial element situated near the distal end of the fiber for amplifying or enhancing detectability of overheating or damage radiation by absorbing selected wavelengths of said damage radiation so as to cause sacrifice of the sacrificial element during delivery of optical energy to the treatment site, said sacrificial element being made of a sacrificial material that absorbs said specific wavelengths and, in response to the absorption of said specific wavelengths emits radiation in the form of visible light as it is sacrificed, said radiation emitted by the sacrificial material having an increased contrast with respect to background radiation than said damage radiation so that the overheating or damage radiation can more easily be detected before damage to the instrument or tissue occurs.