Providing neuroprotective therapy for glaucoma includes generating a micropulsed laser light beam having parameters and characteristics, including pulse length, power, and duty cycle, selected to create a therapeutic effect with no visible laser lesions or tissue damage to the retina. The laser light beam is applied to retinal and/or foveal tissue of an eye having glaucoma or a risk of glaucoma to create a therapeutic effect to the retinal and/or foveal tissue exposed to the laser light beam without destroying or permanently damaging the retinal and/or foveal tissue and improve function or condition of an optic nerve and/or retinal ganglion cells of the eye.

System and method for generating patterns P of aiming and treatment light on target eye tissue (e.g. the retina) of a patient's eye. The system includes light sources for treatment and aiming light, a scanner for generating patterns of spots of the generated light, a controller, and a graphic user interface that allows the user to select one of several possible spot patterns, adjust the spot density and/or spot size, and apply patterns with fixed or varied density. The patterns can be formed of interlaced sub-patterns and/or scanned without adjacent spots being consecutively formed to reduce localized heating. Partially or fully enclosed exclusion zones within the patterns protect sensitive target tissue from exposure to the light.

A steerable laser probe may include a handle, an actuation structure of the handle, a housing tube, a wire having a pre-formed curve, and an optic fiber disposed within the housing tube and an inner bore of the handle. The housing tube may include a first housing tube portion having a first stiffness and a second housing tube portion having a second stiffness. The second stiffness may be greater than the first stiffness. A compression of the actuation structure may curve or straighten the housing tube. A decompression of the actuation structure may curve or straighten the housing tube.

A surgical probe includes a cannula assembly, having a graded index (GRIN) fiber that is configured to receive a multi-spot light beam at a proximal end and to emit the multi-spot light beam at a distal end; an adapter, having a distal end, configured to receive the cannula assembly, with the proximal end of the GRIN fiber, a proximal end, configured to couple to a light guide via a connector and to receive a light delivered by the light guide from a laser source to the adapter, and an interface, configured to couple the light delivered by the light guide to the proximal end of the GRIN fiber; wherein a length of the GRIN fiber is sufficiently long that the interface is outside a patient's eye during a photocoagulation procedure.

The procedures described herein may involve using one or more treatment beams to induce one or more therapeutic benefits. In some embodiments, a series of short duration light pulses may be delivered to ocular tissue at a plurality of target locations with a thermal relaxation time delay to limit the temperature rise of the target ocular tissue and thereby limit a thermal effect to only a desired portion of the ocular tissue. The thermal relaxation time delay may be roughly equivalent to a duration of a scan of the treatment beam between each of the target locations. Such procedures may be used to treat diabetic retinopathy, macular edema, and/or other conditions of the eye. The treatment beam may be delivered at each target location within a sufficiently short duration so as to produce a visual appearance of a treatment pattern on the ocular tissue of the patient's eye.

Embodiments of the invention provide systems for treating the retina and/or other areas of a patient's eye. The procedures may involve using one or more treatment beams (e.g., lasers) to cause photocoagulation or laser coagulation to finely cauterize ocular blood vessels and/or prevent blood vessel growth to induce one or more therapeutic benefits. In other embodiments, a series of short duration light pulses (e.g., between 5-15 microseconds) may be delivered to the retinal tissue with a thermal relaxation time delay between the pulse to limit the temperature rise of the target retinal tissue and thereby limit a thermal effect to only the retinal pigment epithelial layer. Such procedures may be used to treat diabetic retinopathy, macular edema, and/or other conditions of the eye. The treatment beam may be delivered within a treatment boundary or pattern defined on the retina of the patient's eye.

A system for treating retinal diseases includes passing a laser light beam through an optical lens or mask to optically shape the light beam. The light beam is applied to at least a portion of the retina. Due to the selected parameters of the laser light beam pulse length, power and duty cycle, the laser light beam can be applied to substantially the entire retina, including the fovea, without damaging retinal or foveal tissue, while still attaining the benefits of retinal photocoagulation.

A system and process for treating retinal diseases includes passing a plurality of radiant beams, i.e., laser light beams, through an optical lens or mask to optically shape the beams. The shaped beams are applied to at least a portion of the retina. Due to the selected parameters of the beamspulse length, power and duty cyclethe beams can be applied to substantially the entire retina, including the fovea, without damaging retinal or foveal tissue, while still attaining the benefits of retinal phototherapy or photostimulation.

A laser probe with a replaceable optic fiber may include a reusable handle, a reusable housing tube, a reusable handle adapter, a reusable machine adapter, and a replaceable optic fiber. The handle adapter may interface with a proximal end of the handle. The machine adapter may interface with a surgical machine. The replaceable optic fiber may include an optic fiber having a first optic fiber end and a second optic fiber end, a first connector, and a second connector. The optic fiber may be disposed within the first connector and the second connector. The first connector may be temporarily fixed within the handle adapter and the second connector may be temporarily fixed within the machine adapter.

A laser system calibration method and system are provided. In some methods, a calibration plate may be used to calibrate a video camera of the laser system. The video camera pixel locations may be mapped to the physical space. A xy-scan device of the laser system may be calibrated by defining control parameters for actuating components of the xy-scan device to scan a beam to a series of locations. Optionally, the beam may be scanned to a series of locations on a fluorescent plate. The video camera may be used to capture reflected light from the fluorescent plate. The xy-scan device may then be calibrated by mapping the xy-scan device control parameters to physical locations. A desired z-depth focus may be determined by defining control parameters for focusing a beam to different depths. The video camera or a confocal detector may be used to detect the scanned depths.