The present disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for measuring optical parameters of the eye and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a method and system for measuring optical parameters that minimizes an impact of distortions resulting from manual opening of an eyelid.
This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the disclosure. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
When performing optical measurements on patients it is often important that the patient's eyelid is sufficiently open. Such optical measurements are common, for example, when measuring topography or wavefront as part of a diagnostic exam to obtain data required for subsequent surgery, or just to characterize the eyes as part of a diagnostic workup.
It is quite common that a patient's eyelid does not open sufficiently to allow for data capture over the required area. This is frequently due, for example, to the patient's age or injury to the eye or the surrounding area. In these cases the device operator often manually assists the patient with opening the eyelid. Sometimes, depending upon the level of challenge and ease of access to the eye, a second operator assists.
When opening the eyelid manually, it is possible to inadvertently distort the globe of the eye. This can result in the ensuing measurement being incorrect. Measurements, for example, of astigmatism or higher order aberrations can be particularly impacted. Inaccurate measurements can have a negative impact on any surgical procedure including, for example, intra-ocular lens implantation or corneal refractive surgery. Operators are trained in the best technique so as to minimize potential distortions. However, there is variation between operators and manual manipulation of the eyelid can be challenging for even the most experienced operators with particularly challenging patients. Additionally, when the opening of the patient's eyelid is assisted manually or mechanically, the tear film associated with the patient's cornea often dries due to the patient being unable to blink. Drying of the tear film also leads to inaccurate ophthalmic measurements.
Various aspects of the disclosure relate to a method of verifying ophthalmic measurements. The method includes obtaining, via an ophthalmic measurement device, a first measurement of at least one ophthalmic parameter over a first measurement area. The first measurement area corresponds to an unassisted visible area of a patient's eye. A second measurement of the at least one ophthalmic parameter over a second measurement area is obtained via the measurement device. The second measurement area corresponds to an assisted visible area of the patient's eye. The first measurement is compared to the second measurement. It is determined if the second measurement diverges from the first measurement. Responsive to a determination that the second measurement diverges from the first measurement, an alert that the second measurement is inaccurate is generated. Responsive to a determination that the second measurement does not diverge from the first measurement, the second measurement is accepted as accurate. First reflections associated with the first measurement and second reflections associated with the second measurement are obtained using the ophthalmic measurement device. The first reflections are compared to the second reflections. It is then determined if there are discrepancies between the first reflections and the second reflections. Responsive to a determination that discrepancies are present between the second reflections and the first reflections, generating an alert that the patient's tear film has dried. Responsive to a determination that there are no discrepancies between the second reflections and the first reflections, accepting the second measurement as accurate.
Various aspects of the disclosure relate to a computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-usable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein. The computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method that includes receiving, from an ophthalmic measurement device, a first measurement of at least one ophthalmic parameter over a first measurement area. The first measurement area corresponds to an unassisted visible area of a patient's eye. A second measurement of the at least one ophthalmic parameter over a second measurement area is received from the measurement device. The second measurement area corresponds to an assisted visible area of the patient's eye. The first measurement is compared to the second measurement. It is determined if the second measurement diverges from the first measurement. Responsive to a determination that the second measurement diverges from the first measurement, an alert is generated that the second measurement is inaccurate. Responsive to a determination that the second measurement does not diverge from the first measurement, the second measurement is accepted as accurate. First reflections associated with the first measurement and second reflections associated with the second measurement are received from the ophthalmic measurement device. It is determined if there are discrepancies between the first reflections and the second reflections. Responsive to a determination that discrepancies are present between the second reflections and the first reflections, generating an alert that the patient's tear film has dried. Responsive to a determination that there are no discrepancies between the second reflections and the first reflections, accepting the second measurement as accurate.
Various aspects of the disclosure relate to a system for ophthalmic measurement. The system includes an ophthalmic measurement device. A processor is coupled to the ophthalmic measurement device. The processor is configured to receive, from an ophthalmic measurement device, a first measurement of at least one ophthalmic parameter over a first measurement area. The first measurement area corresponds to an unassisted visible area of a patient's eye. A second measurement of the at least one ophthalmic parameter over a second measurement area is received from the ophthalmic measurement device. The second measurement area corresponds to an assisted visible area of the patient's eye. The first measurement is compared to the second measurement and it is determined if the second measurement diverges from the first measurement. Responsive to a determination that the second measurement diverges from the first measurement, generate an alert that the second measurement is inaccurate. Responsive to a determination that the second measurement does not diverge from the first measurement, accept the second measurement as accurate. The processor is configured to receive, from the ophthalmic measurement device, first reflections associated with the first measurement and second reflections associated with the second measurement. It is determined if there are discrepancies between the first reflections and the second reflections. Responsive to a determination that discrepancies are present between the second reflections and the first reflections, an alert that the patient's tear film has dried is generated. Responsive to a determination that there are no discrepancies between the second reflections and the first reflections, the second measurement is accepted as accurate.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of claimed subject matter.
The disclosure is best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying figures. It is emphasized that, in accordance with standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.
Various embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. The disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.
Prior to medical interventions on the eye, such as for example refractive surgery, retinal surgery, or lens-replacement surgery, it is common for many ophthalmic parameters, such as for example, corneal curvature (also known as keratometry), axial length, aberrometry, corneal anterior surface measurement (also known as corneal topography), or full-thickness measurement of a corneal structure (also known as corneal tomography) to be measured. These ophthalmic parameters are typically measured with specialized equipment and require that a certain minimum surface area of the anterior portion of the eye be visible. In the particular case of lens-replacement surgery, measurement of these ophthalmic parameters dictates the optical properties of a replacement lens. Thus, inaccuracies in measurements of the ophthalmic parameters can adversely impact the efficacy of any such medical intervention on the eye.
In some embodiments, a data bus 109, which in the illustrated embodiment is a serial bus, couples various components of the measurement device 102 together such that data is communicated therebetween. In a typical embodiment, the data bus 109 may include, for example, any combination of hardware, software embedded in a computer readable medium, or encoded logic incorporated in hardware or otherwise stored (e.g., firmware) to couple components of the measurement device 102 to each other. As an example and not by way of limitation, the data bus 109 may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT) interconnect, an INFINIBAND interconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a PCI-Express (PCI-X) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, or any other suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these. In various embodiments, the data bus 109 may include any number, type, or configuration of data buses 109, where appropriate.
It should be noted that the first measurement area 202 and the second measurement area 302 illustrated in
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Depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of any of the algorithms described herein can be performed in a different sequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g., not all described acts or events are necessary for the practice of the algorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts or events can be performed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or on other parallel architectures, rather than sequentially. Although certain computer-implemented tasks are described as being performed by a particular entity, other embodiments are possible in which these tasks are performed by a different entity.
For purposes of this patent application, the term computer-readable storage medium encompasses one or more tangible computer-readable storage media possessing structures. As an example and not by way of limitation, a computer-readable storage medium may include a semiconductor-based or other integrated circuit (IC) (such as, for example, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific IC (ASIC)), a hard disk, an HDD, a hybrid hard drive (HHD), an optical disc, an optical disc drive (ODD), a magneto-optical disc, a magneto-optical drive, a floppy disk, a floppy disk drive (FDD), magnetic tape, a holographic storage medium, a solid-state drive (SSD), a RAM-drive, a SECURE DIGITAL card, a SECURE DIGITAL drive, a flash memory card, a flash memory drive, or any other suitable tangible computer-readable storage medium or a combination of two or more of these, where appropriate.
The term “substantially” is defined as largely but not necessarily wholly what is specified (and includes what is specified; e.g., substantially 90 degrees includes 90 degrees and substantially parallel includes parallel), as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. In any disclosed embodiment, the terms “substantially,” “approximately,” “generally,” and “about” may be substituted with “within [a percentage] of” what is specified.
Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or states. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.
While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out novel features as applied to various embodiments, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated can be made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. As will be recognized, the processes described herein can be embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features and benefits set forth herein, as some features can be used or practiced separately from others. The scope of protection is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20210173229 A1 | Jun 2021 | US |
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63006820 | Apr 2020 | US | |
62945909 | Dec 2019 | US |