System for calculating center of anterior capsule and method thereof

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and a method for performing a cataract surgery. The system of the present invention includes an optical coherence tomography apparatus, an image capturing device, and a central processing unit. The method includes imaging optical coherence tomography of a patient's eye using the optical coherence tomography apparatus, capturing the patient's optical coherence tomography with the image capturing device, generating a 3D image and coordinates of the patient's eye, and determining a central location of a pupillary margin and an iridocorneal angle using a central processing unit. The center of the anterior capsule of the human crystalline lens is then calculated by matching the iridocorneal angle to the central location of the pupillary margin.

Claims

1. A method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens of a patient for a cataract surgery, comprising the steps of: imaging a patient's eye with optical coherence tomography; generating a 3-dimensional (3D) image and coordinates based on the data obtained by the optical coherence tomography; capturing an image of the patient's eye; and calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens of the patient by matching the 3D image and coordinates to the image of the patient's eye, wherein the calculating of the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens comprises the steps of: calculating a central location of a pupillary margin; calculating an iridocorneal angle; and calculating the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens by matching the iridocorneal angle to the central location of the pupillary margin.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of calculating the iridocorneal angle is performed by calculating a contact point formed by extending a bisecting point of the iridocorneal angle, and said step of calculating the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens is performed by calculating an extension line extending from contact point to the center of the pupillary margin.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying the calculated center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens to a surgeon.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the calculated center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens is displayed to the surgeon through an optical device used during cataract surgery.

5. A system for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens of a patient during a cataract surgery, the system comprising: an optical coherence tomography apparatus configured to image a patient's eye with optical coherence tomography; an image capturing device configured to capture an image of the patient's eye; and a central processing unit configured to generate a 3D image and coordinates based on the data obtained by the optical coherence tomography apparatus and calculate the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens by matching the 3D image and coordinates to the image of the patient's eye obtained by the image capturing device, wherein the central processing unit calculates a central location of a pupillary margin and an iridocorneal angle, and wherein the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens is calculated by matching the iridocorneal angle to the central location of the pupillary margin.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising an optical device configured to display the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens calculated by the central processing unit to a surgeon.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the central processing unit comprises: a first operation unit configured to generate the 3D image and coordinates based on the data obtained by the optical coherence tomography apparatus; and a second operation unit configured to calculate the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens by matching the 3D image and coordinates to the image of the patient's eye obtained by the image capturing device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of an eyeball.

(2) FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating respective steps of a method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(4) FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation of calculating the center of a pupillary margin in the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(5) FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation of calculating a contact point of an iridocorneal angle in the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(6) FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation of extending a contact point of an iridocorneal angle to a central location of a pupillary margin to calculate the center of the anterior capsule of the human crystalline lens in the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the human crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(7) FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens displayed to a surgeon through an optical device used in surgical procedures in the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(8) Hereinafter, a system for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and a method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens using the same will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(9) FIG. 1 shows a structure of an eye.

(10) A crystalline lens 30 is present inside an eye. Here, the crystalline lens 30 is connected to a ciliary body through a ciliary ligament 50 at an equator. Also, iris portions 40a and 40b are positioned at both frontal sides of the crystalline lens, and angles formed between a cornea 10 and iris edges 42a and 42b are referred to as iridocorneal angles. Also, an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens 20 of the crystalline lens is present between the crystalline lens 30 and the cornea 10.

(11) That is, the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens 20 needs to be incised to extract the nucleus of the crystalline lens and insert an intraocular lens during cataract surgery. In this case, the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens 20 should be incised in a circle with a proper size, as described above in the technical field of the present invention.

(12) Also, although it is important to incise a central region of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens 20, there is difficulty in finding the central region of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens 20 exactly since the iridocorneal angles, and the shapes of a pupillary margin that is an outer circumferential surface of a pupil are different according to patients.

(13) Therefore, a method of calculating the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens 20, and a system used in the method are provided in the present invention.

(14) FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating respective steps of the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(15) FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the human crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(16) As shown in FIG. 2, the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of imaging a patient's eyeball with optical coherence tomography (S10), generating a 3D image and coordinates based on the data obtained in the imaging of the patient's eyeball with the optical coherence tomography (S10) (S20), capturing the patient's eyeball to produce an eyeball image (S30), and calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens of the patient by matching the 3D image and coordinates to the eyeball image (S40). After the calculating of the center of the anterior capsule, the method may further include displaying the calculated center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens to a surgeon (S50).

(17) Hereinafter, the respective steps will be described in detail.

(18) First, the imaging of the patient's eyeball with the optical coherence tomography (S10) is a step of obtaining the data on the patient's eyeball through an optical coherence tomography apparatus (OCT) 110.

(19) After the imaging of the patient's eyeball with the optical coherence tomography (S10), the generating of the 3D image and coordinates based on the obtained data (S20) may be performed. In this step, an operation of setting coordinates for each of points of the 3D image according to an algorithm set through a central processing unit 130 is performed.

(20) Next, the capturing of the patient's eyeball to produce the eyeball image (S30) is performed. In this step, the eyeball image of the patient is obtained through an image capturing device 120 such as a camera.

(21) Then, the calculating of the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens of the patient (S40) is performed. In this step, the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens is calculated by matching the 3D image and coordinates obtained in the imaging of the patient's eyeball with the optical coherence tomography (S10) to the eyeball image obtained in the capturing of the patient's eyeball to produce the eyeball image (S30).

(22) In this case, the above-described central processing unit 130 is used to calculate the center of the anterior capsule. The central processing unit 130 used in this step may be the same device as the central processing unit 130 used in the generating of the 3D image and coordinates (S20), or may be installed as a separate device.

(23) Also, the central processing unit 130 may include a first operation unit 131 configured to generate the 3D image and coordinates based on the data obtained by the optical coherence tomography apparatus 110, and a second operation unit 132 configured to calculate the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens by matching the 3D image and coordinates to the eyeball image obtained by the image capturing device 120.

(24) Hereinafter, the calculating of the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens will be described in further detail.

(25) FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation of calculating the center of a pupillary margin in the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(26) As shown in FIG. 4, the central processing unit 130 serves to calculate the shape of the pupillary margin based on the 3D data. The circular pupillary margin may be indicated by a first extension line C1 extending from inner portions of the iris portions 40a and 40b based on a cross section of the eyeball for the sake of convenience.

(27) FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation of calculating a contact point of an iridocorneal angle in the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(28) As shown in FIG. 5, iridocorneal angles θ1 and θ2 formed between the iris edges and the cornea 10 may extend in a circle around the eyeball. In this exemplary embodiment, a contact point P1 formed at an intersection of a second extension line C2 and a third extension line C3 which bisect the iridocorneal angles θ1 and θ2, respectively, based on the cross section of the eyeball, is obtained in the calculating of the iridocorneal angle.

(29) FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation of extending a contact point P1 of an iridocorneal angle to a central location P2 of a pupillary margin to calculate the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens in the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(30) In this operation, a fourth extension line C4 connecting a contact point P1 of the iridocorneal angle and the central location P2 of the pupillary margin calculated respectively in the above-described operations may be extended. Here, a fourth extension line C4 represents the center of the anterior capsule. That is, a surgeon may perform a stable surgical procedure by incising the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens along the fourth extension line C4.

(31) FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens displayed to a surgeon through an optical device used during surgical operations in the method for calculating the center of an anterior capsule of the crystalline lens according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(32) In this step, the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens calculated by the central processing unit 130 in the above-described steps is displayed to a surgeon during surgical procedures, which may be achieved using various methods.

(33) According to this exemplary embodiment, the displaying of the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens may be performed by displaying the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens to the surgeon through the optical device 140 used during cataract surgical operations. In this case, the optical device 140 may be used to directly display a central point L of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens onto an eyeball 100 of a patient, or may be directly mounted in a microscope used by the surgeon to display the central point of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens on a lens.

(34) Also, the center of the anterior capsule of the crystalline lens may be displayed to the surgeon using various methods, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

(35) The exemplary embodiments and the accompanying drawings provided and shown herein are merely examples which exemplarily describe the scope of the present invention. Therefore, it is apparent that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments thereof since the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are intended to describe the scope of the present invention, but not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the above-described exemplary embodiments of the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thus, it should be understood that the present invention covers all such changes and modifications provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.