1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of ocular surgery, and more specifically to real-time control of a medical instrument system during ophthalmic procedures based on detected surgical events.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ocular surgery, such as phacoemulsification surgery, requires a surgeon to continuously make decisions while conducting the surgical procedure. To make these decisions, the surgeon may rely on a variety of information originating within the surgical theater environment, which may include the surgeon using her auditory, tactile, and visual senses to ascertain cues during the procedure. The surgeon may use these environmental cues to make decisions regarding adjusting and refining the settings and parameters controlling the medical instrument system to best perform the most effective, efficient and safest possible surgical procedure. One example of an environmental cue is reporting an audible alarm to inform the surgeon that the instrument logic has detected a parameter, such as flow for example, has reached a value outside of a desired operating range.
Medical instrument systems incorporate numerous sensors to detect and collect information from the surgical theater environment sensors and provide this information as input to software programs that monitor the medical instrument system. Together with advancements in sensor technologies, surgical monitoring software programs continue to evolve to take advantage of advanced sensor capabilities. One example of the current state of software sensor state of the art is Advanced Medical Optics' “occlusion mode” functionality provided in certain phacoemulsification systems, wherein a control program monitors vacuum sensors and recognizes vacuum levels exceeding a particular value. Once the control program detects that vacuum levels have exceeded the value, the control program adjusts system parameters accordingly.
The current state of the art also entails capturing optical images during the surgical procedure and presenting these optical images with the various instrument settings and sensor readings. One example of such a design is Advanced Medical Optics' “Surgical Media Center,” aspects of which are reflected in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/953,229, “DIGITAL VIDEO CAPTURE SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH CUSTOMIZABLE GRAPHICAL OVERLAY,” inventors Wayne Wong, et al., filed Dec. 10, 2007, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. The Surgical Media Center provides simultaneous replay of surgical camera video images synchronized with medical instrument system settings and parameters. Video and system settings information can be communicated to other systems and subsystems. Another system related to capturing of optical images, specifically eye position, is reflected in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,602 to Chernyak, U.S. Pat. No. 7,261,415 to Chernyak, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,759 to Chernyak et al., each assigned to VISX, Incorporated of Santa Clara, Calif.
Phacoemulsification instrument systems manufacturers provide products that allow the sensors within the systems to detect information from the surgical environment and pass that data to control programs in order to dynamically generate responses and adjust instrument system settings. In conjunction, manufacturers continue to evolve and improve data analysis programs to recognize certain patterns of information reported from digital video camera imaging data. Image analysis techniques may afford the system the ability to perceive small changes or complex patterns otherwise undetected by a surgeon operating a surgical microscope. Important visual information or cues previously unavailable during a surgical procedure can now be employed during the procedure.
Ocular surgical procedures in particular, including phacoemulsification, involve manual procedures selected by the surgeon based on environmental cues originating from instrument sensors. While manual procedures are effective and in wide use, current surgical procedures can be challenging in a surgical environment due to human response time and the ability to perceive very small changes or very complex patterns within environmental cues. It can be difficult for the surgeon to observe available environmental cues, and appropriately respond to these ‘events’ quickly and accurately by determining and manually implementing new settings and parameters to adjust the surgical instrument. Enhancing a surgeon's ability to perform the surgical procedure is always advantageous.
Based on the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide for a system and method that enhances the ability of the system to accurately detect, report, and quickly respond to surgical events from imaging data, and provide information relating environmental changes previously not perceived by the surgeon for use in medical instrument systems that overcomes drawbacks present in previously known designs.