Automatic corneal shaper

Abstract: An automatic mechanical device (10) capable of performing lamellar corneal resections that comprises: driving mean (20), mobile means including cutting means (50) for performing corneal resections, eyeball retaining means (90) so that the resection can be made with precision, and transmission means (30) designed to automate the resecting operation. A similar device is capable of performing operations of resection on the corneas of eyes in an automatic fashion, in such a way as to ensure the precision and quality of the resection for correcting both myopic and hyperopic conditions.

Description: The present invention relates to medical surgery equipment, particularly with a mechanical device for performing eye surgery, specifically Myopic Keratomileusis-In-Situ and Hyperopic Lamellar Keratotomy. The latest technical advaces in the medical field include the developments over the last 20 years in the procedures for operating on the eyes of patients suffering from myopia or hyperopia. Different methods and special instruments have been designed for performing this kind of surgery. A device as decribed in the precharacterizing part of claim 1 is known from European Patent Application No. 0303174, which discloses a process and an apparatus for the surgical correction of ametropia by means of a grinder. Due to this grinding technique the removed tissue is destroyed and cannot be reused anymore in the sequel to the surgery performance. Another type of mechanical device for performing eye surgery includes a cutting element for performing the operation of resection on the cornea of the eye. There are currently some few of these devices, known as microkeratomes (MKM) on the market, and they are suitable for performing Myopic Kerato-mileusis-In-Situ and Hyperopic Lamellar Keratotomy. In all these devices the cutting element is moved by an electric or turbine motor. This movement is a transverse motion with respect to the direction of the cutting path. For this reason, it is necessary to push the blade-carrying device by hand in order to be able to make the cut. Surgical operations of this kind are presently performed in this manner and though they have been quite successful they involve some problems to be solved yet. To obtain a proper correction of a visual defect, the dimensions of the resection to be made must be very precise. Since the resection is carried out manually, the precision of the recection depends on factors which are difficult to control, such as the pressure exterted by the surgeon's hand on the instrument, and as a result on the patient's eye, or the pace at which the instrument and its blade are pushed. The higher the speed, the thinner the section will be, resulting in hypocorrection, and the lower the speed, the thicker the resection will be, resulting in hypercorrection. Furthermore, since the sliding parts of the mechnical instrument are finely adjusted, the irregular pressure exerted on or the speed imparted to the instrument by the surgeon may cause it to bind. This would result in an irregular cutting, which could produce astigmatism in the patient's eye. Likewise, irregular pressure exerted on the instrument and on the eye will affect the dimension of the resection. The invention aims to provide an automatic, mechanical device that is capable of performing eye surgery by resection, minimizing any changes of pressure on the eye during surgery and enabling a precise resection performance which is not affected by the surgeon's hand and which will not result in binding along the cutting path. To this end, the invention provides a mechanical device for performing eye surgery as described in claim 1. The automatically, that is not by hand, effected oscillatory and linear motion of the cutting means, due to the automatic operation being carried out at a constant pace (rate of oscillation and linear speed), ensures a precise and controlled cutting operation on the eye. For a better understanding of the invention, a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the device of the invention is given below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the mechanical device of the invention. Figures 2, 2A, and 2B show a top view, a longitudinal section, and a front view, respectively, of one end of the transmission shaft. Figures 3, 3A and 3B show the front and lateral and bottom elavations, respectively, of the pinion-bearing upper body of the shaper head assembly of the mechanical device of the invention. Figures 4, 4A and 4B are the front, lateral and top elevations of the blade holder. Figures 5, 5A and 5B are the front, lateral and top views of the cutting element or blade. Figures 6, 6A and 6B are the lateral elevation, cross section, and bottom elevation of the nut that fastens together the upper pinion-bearing body and the sliding skate of the shaper head assembly. Figure 7, 7A and 7B are the front, top and lateral elevations of the sliding skate. Figures 8, 8A and 8B are the front, top and lateral elevations of the plate, whose thickness determines the thickness of resection. Figure 9 is a perspective view of the retaining ring assembly of this invention. Figures 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, 9F, 9G, 9H and 9J show the component parts of the retaining ring assembly of Figure 9. Figure 10 is a sketch of the mechanical device in the process of performing a corneal resection on an eye. Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiment A description is given in this section, with reference to the attached drawings, of the mechanical device of this invention, which is capable of performing eye surgery of the resection type shaping, or myopic and Hiperopic shaping. The mechanical device 10, specifically designed to perform surgical operations on eyes to correct for myopia and hyperopia, is shown in perspective, as a complete unit, in Figure 1. The device is drawn in said Figure 1 as though it were transparent, to reveal several of its essential internal parts. Said mechanical device 10 is basically made up of the following main component parts. The motor and transmission shaft assembly 20, the figure shows only the end of the transmission shaft that fits into the upper body 30, this end of the shaft being the only part of said assembly of interest to this invention. No description will be given of the motor and the rest of the shaft because they are well-known elements of the prior art and do not form part of this invention. An upper body 30, which comprises a means of transmitting motion to the cutting element 50 (see figures 5, 5A and 5B). A sliding skate 70, to which the upper body 30 is immovably fitted, and which in turn is fitted onto the fixation ring 90 in such a way as to be free to slide across it. A plate 80, which slides into said skate 70 up to a predetermined fixed position. Said plate 80 defines the thickness of the resection. A fastening nut 60, whose function is to hold the upper body 30 and said sliding plane 70 immovably joined together, these two parts together forming the shaper head. A retaining ring assembly 90, whose function in the apparatus as a whole is to fix the eye in position and at the same time to provide a fixed support along which the shaper head will slide to resect the corneal disc with the blade 50, which is fitted into the blade holder 40, which in turn is inserted into said upper body of the shaper head. This retaining ring is able to work with or without vaccum or with pressure only. Following the above general identification of the main parts of said mechanical device 10, a detailed description is given below of each one of them to explain how the device works and thus make clear the object and scope of this invention. Figures 2, 2A and 2B show the end of the transmission shaft of the motor and transmission shaft assembly 20. At the extreme end of the shaft end 28 there is a threaded area 22 working as an endless pinion, and at the very tip projects a small spindle that is parallel to but not concentric with said shaft 28; this spindle will hereafter be referred to as the eccentric 21. No description will be given of the other parts of the transmission shaft, for they are well known parts in the art of flexible shafts; such parts include jacket 29 and other components. Said shaft end 28 is introduced through a hole in the threaded area 35 (see Figures 3A and 3B) of the upper body 30 (see Figure 1) and moved further into said body. Once said shaft point 28 is in place it becomes mechanically connected in its threaded area 35 to a pinion-shaft 31 (see Figure 1) that changes the direction of the axis of rotation by 90° with respect to the transmission shaft 20. Rotation is imparted to said pinion-shaft 31 upon mutual engagement of the two, that is the threaded area 35 of the transmission shaft and the threaded area of the pinion-shaft 31. The eccentric 21 fits into a vertical slot along the body of the blade holder 40. An oscillating motion is imparted to said blade holder 40 by the eccentric 21 as the eccentric revolves with the transmission shaft (see Figure 1). Said upper body 30 is shown in detail in Figures 3,3A and 3B and is manufactured out of surgical-grade stainless steel. Said upper body has a cylindrical threaded area 35 that is cut straight on the underside and has a cylindrical hole through which is inserted the shaft end 28 referred to above; a pinion-shaft 31, which engages to said threaded area 22 of said shaft end 28, said pinion shaft 31 runs through said upper body, just out of the opposite lateral walls of said body, and is connected at each end to a pinion 32. In each one of said lateral walls of said upper body there are two forced in-shafts fitted with pinions 33 and 34, pinion 33 being engaged with pinion 32 and being larger in diameter, while pinion 34 being engaged with pinion 33 and being in turn larger in diameter. The relationship between the diameters of the set of pinions being chosen according to the required blade advancing speed. Toward the central part of the upper body, on the underside, there is a cavity 37 with a rectangular section and rounded ends. The blade holder 40 fits into this cavity 37. On the straight-cut part of the threaded area 35, toward the beginning of the thread on the body, there are two protruding pins 36 whose function will be understood from the description of the sliding skate 70 given below. Figures 4, 4A and 4B show the blade holder 40, which has the shape of a rectangular parallelepided with rounded corners, comprising on one of its wider faces three horizontal, triangular wedge-shaped slots. On the opposite side, the vertical slot referred to above is located. This is the vertical slot into which the eccentric 21 will be inserted to impart the transverse oscillatory motion to said blade holder 40. On the top side of the blade holder (see figures 4 and 4B) there is a boss shaped like an inverted "C" in the center, with two circles above and below the "C" (see hatched area in figure 4B). The function of said boss is to receive the blade 50 shown in Figure 5, 5A and 5B. Toward the center of said blade there is an essentially rectangular-shaped hole with rounded ends that fits perfectly onto the boss of the blade holder 40. Said blade holder is then introduced into said cavity 37 in the upper body 30 in such a way that the blade is held parallel to the underside of the upper body 30. Said upper body 30 is then joined to the sliding skate 70 shown in Figures 7, 7A and 7B. The sliding skate 70 has a threaded area 74 which has a straight cut and which follows an inclined plane with respect to the plane formed by the dovetails 76. On said plane there is a rectangular-shaped recess with rounded ends like cavity 37 in the upper body 30. Said upper body 30, with all its elements described above duly assembled, is so placed that the cut face of the threaded area 35 coincides with the cut face of the threaded area 74 of the sliding skate 70. In this way the two pins 36 on the body 30 are inserted into the two holes 78 provided in the sliding skate, and the blade holder 40 coincides with the recess 77 so that the cutting element 50 becomes duly secured. Then the two parts, the upper body 30 and the sliding skate 70, are fixed together as a single unit by screwing on the fastening nut 60 over the thread formed by the threaded parts 35 and 74. The blade is thus in the proper position for making a resection; although free to move transversally because the length of the cavity 37 in the upper body 30 is somewhat greater than the length of the blade holder 40. With reference again to Figures 7, 7A and 7B., two parallel slots 75 can be seen above a rectangular-shaped opening in the body of the sliding skate 70. Plate 80 is inserted into said opening in a sliding manner along said slots 75 (see Figure 1). The thickness of the plate determines the depth of resection, thus a resection of predetermined depth can be made by using a plate of appropriate thickness. Figures 8, 8A and 8B show the general form of plate 80. Figure 8B highlights a part of the plate that is shaped like a rectangular parallelepiped and has two circular holes 82. These holes serve to retain plate 80 in position in the sliding skate 70 when the holes fit over the spheres 71 located in the body of the sliding skate 70. The springs 72, which are held in place by the crews 73, keep said spheres pressed outward. All the parts described above make up the mobile means of the mechanical device once they are assembled together. This mobile means is the cutting instrument (see Figure 10). The fixed part or support of the mechanical device is the retaining ring assembly 90, which is shown in Figure 9. As can be seen, it is circular in shape and has a circular concentric hole 98. When said retaining ring assembly 90 is placed over the patient's eyeball, the cornea will appear centered on said hole 98 and protruding through it. Figures 9D, 9E and 9F show an upper ring 96 with two parallel toothed tracks 91 on it which run across ring 90 along the sides of hole 98. Figure 9E shows two V-shaped grooves 94 that run parallel to the tracks 91. The dovetails 76 of the sliding skate 70 (see Figure 7) are inserted into these grooves 94 in such a way that each one of the tracks 91 engages one of the pinions 34 of the upper body 30. With reference again to Figure 9, a description is given below of the retaining ring assembly 90, which comprises three components: A slender upper ring 96 that has the hole 98, the tracks 91, the grooves 94 and two small holes 99. An inner ring 95 that has an outer thread and two pins 92 which will be inserted into the holes 99 in the upper ring 96. The inside of said ring 95 is shaped like a circular seat in which the patient's eyeball will be adjusted. An outer ring 97 with an inner thread that serves to hold together the two preceding rings, the three together forming the complete eye retaining ring assembly. The apparatus is thus ready to fulfill its purpose of resecting the cornea of the patient's eye. Next, the transmission shaft is connected by inserting the shaft end 28 (Figures 2 and 2A) through hole 38 in the upper body 30 until the eccentric 21 enters the vertical slot of the blade holder 40 and the threaded area 22 of the shaft end 28 engages the pinion shaft 31 (see Figures 3, 2A, 4B and 1). It only remains now to start the motor for the resection to be made automatically, precisely and safely. The high degree of resecting precision obtained in this way ensures that the patient under treatment will receive the required visual correction. It is to be understood that the above description of the invention is made to exemplify the preferred embodiment and in no way limits the scope of this invention. Any expert in the matter will realize that it is possible to make modifications or variations without departing from the scope of this invention.

Claims: A mechanical device (10) for performing eye surgery, in particular for surgical correction of ametropia, comprising: an eyeball retaining means (90); mobile means (40, 50, 60, 70) including removing means (50) for the removal of portions of the cornea of an eye; and means (20) for driving said mobile means; and transmission means interposed between said driving means and said mobile means so as to automatically operate said mobile means, characterized in that said removing means (50) comprises cutting means for cutting off portions of the cornea, and in that said transmission means comprise means (28, 21) for imparting a transverse oscillatory motion to said cutting means (50) and means (28, 22, 31-34, 91) for imparting a linear motion to said cutting means in a direction perpendicular to said oscillatory motion and across said eyeball retaining means, and in that said driving means (20) comprises a transmission shaft (28) that acts on both the transverse oscillatory motion imparting means (28, 21) and the linear motion imparting means (28, 22, 31-34, 91). A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said means (28, 21) for imparting an oscillatory motion to said cutting means (50) comprises an eccentric (21) which is provided on the tip of the end of the transmission shaft (28), said cutting means (50) being provided with a vertical slot receiving said eccentric (21). A device as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said cutting means (50) comprises a cutting blade holder (40) and a cutting blade (50) fitting said cutting blade holder, wherein said cutting blade holder has the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped with rounded corners and is provided with three horizontal slots in one of its broad faces, the slot receiving the eccentric being vertically arranged in the blade holder's face that is opposite to the face having said three slots, as well as with a boss that is C-shaped in the centre, including two circles, one above and one below the C; and wherein said cutting blade has an essentially rectangular shape and is made of surgical stainless steel and has a cutting edge along one of its longer sides and a hole in its inner side being essentially rectangular in shape, the smaller opposite sides of which being curved, said hole pefectly matching said boss of said blade holder. A device as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that said means for imparting a linear motion to said cutting means comprise: a rack (91) on said eyeball retaining means; a threaded area (22) which is provided on the end of a flexible transmission shaft and constitutes an endless pinion; a pinion shaft (31) engaging said threaded area (22) and changing the direction of the axis of rotation; and three pinions (32, 33, 34) for mechanically coupling the ends of said pinion shaft (31) to said rack (91). A device as claimed in any one of claims 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that said mobile means comprises an upper body (30) carrying said transmission means (28, 21, 22, 31-34), said upper body comprising: a cylindrical threaded area (35) cut straight on the bottom side; a cylindrical hole through said cylindrical threaded area into which said shaft end (28) or point of said transmission shaft is inserted; an essentially rectangular cavity (37), the shorter sides of which being curved; two pins (36) projecting from the straight-cut part of said threaded cylindrical area, wherein the device further comprises a sliding skate (70), on which said upper body (30) including said cutting means is mounted and which is provided with: a threaded area (74) having a straight cut following an inclined plane in relation to the base of said sliding skate; a recess (77) having a transverse section identical to said cavity of said upper body, said base of said sliding skate being constituted by dovetailed tracks (76) along the whole length of said sliding skate; a rectangular opening having, at the top, two parallel rectangular grooves (75) extending along the length of said sliding skate; and two small holes (78) which are arranged in the straight-cut part of said threaded area (74) and which receive said pins of the threaded area of said upper body, as well as a nut (60) which is screwed on over the complete thread constituted by the threaded areas (35, 74) when the upper body is mounted on the sliding skate, wherein said eyeball retaining means is provided with grooves (94) for slidingly receiving said dovetails (76) of said sliding skate (70). A device as claimed in claim 5, characterized by a plate (80) that slides in through said opening in said base of said sliding skate (70) and along said two grooves (75), said plate having a boss shaped like a rectangular parallelepiped including two holes (82) in its side walls that match a fixing means in the sliding skate, said fixing means consisting of two screws (73) two springs (72), and two balls (71) protruding from the inner side walls of said opening in said sliding skate. A device as claimed in claim 5 or 6 when depending on claim 4, characterized in that said pinion shaft (31) runs through said upper body (30) and protrudes at each end through opposite side walls of said upper body, wherein each of the two first pinions (32) is directly connected to each end of said pinion shaft, two second pinions (33) are mechanically coupled to said first pinions and bear two first shafts forced in said side walls, and two third pinions (34) are mechanically coupled to said second pinions and said racks (91) and bear second shafts forced in said side walls. A device as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that said eyeball retaining means (90) comprises a retaining ring assembly being circular and having a central hole (98) which is concentric with the outer edge of the ring and which accomodates the cornea of the patient undergoing surgery, said retaining ring being composed of an upper ring (96) having two toothed tracks (91) which engage the two third pinions (34) of said transmission means and on which said mobile means will move during the surgery procedure, taking the cutting means across the cornea, an inner ring (95) being threaded on its outer side and an outer ring (97) being threaded on its inner side to be set and screwed on said inner ring.

Inventors: LENCHIG G SERGIO, RUIZ LUIS ANTONIO, LENCHIG, G. SERGIO, RUIZ, LUIS ANTONIO
Applicants: LENCHIG G SERGIO, RUIZ LUIS ANTONIO, LENCHIG, G. SERGIO, RUIZ, LUIS ANTONIO
Application year: 1990
Main classification: A61F9
IPC codes: A61F9