Device and assembly for positioning and stabilizing an eye

摘要

An eye contact device and assembly for stabilizing a human eye at a selected position in an external coordinate system is disclosed. The device includes an eye-contact member having an inner contact surface for contacting a front surface of an eye, and a vacuum port formed within the eye-contact member by which a negative pressure can be applied between the eye and the contact surface, to stabilize the position of the eye with respect to the device. The device, which is adapted to be biased against the patient's eye, to secure the device to the eye, may be pivotally coupled to a positioning arm, and may carry one or more beam-directing elements by which the position of the device in an external coordinate system can be determined.

主权项

1. An eye contact device for stabilizing a patient's eye at a selected position in an external coordinate system, comprising
(a) an eye-contact member having an inner contact surface for contacting a front surface of a patient's eye and an outer surface, (b) a vacuum port formed within said eye-contact member by which a negative pressure can be applied between a patient's eye and the contact surface, to stabilize a position of a patient's eye with respect to the contact device, (c) a positioning assembly comprising a positioning arm for positioning the eye-contact member at a selected position, with the patient's eye stabilized therein, (d) a connector carried on the outer surface of the eye-contact member by which the positioning arm can be coupled to the device, for accommodating movement of the arm relative to the device, as the device is moved by the arm to place the device at the selected position in an external coordinate system, with the patient's eye being stabilized in the device, (e) a control unit, configured to control the positioning arm, wherein, when a force threshold of a force between the patient's eye and the eye-contact member is reached, the control unit restricts further movement of the positioning arm and the eye-contact member toward the eye while the patient's eye remains stabilized in the eye-contact member; and (f) a force gauge operatively coupled to the positioning assembly for determining and reporting to the control unit a force between the eye and the eye-contact member resulting from movement by the patient during a treatment procedure; and (g) a position detector (i) for detecting the position of the eye-contact member, and thus, the position of the eye attached to the eye-contact member, in the external coordinate system, (ii) being operable to detect an angle of a beam emanating from the eye-contact member and (iii) being operable to communicate with the positioning assembly; wherein the positioning assembly is operable to adjust the orientation of the eye-contact member with respect to the patient's head; and wherein the positioning assembly is configured to be moved to a different position based on a signal from the position detector.