Abstract:
The present invention provides illumination for a surgical procedure. Using an optical tracking system, the illumination is made to automatically track an optical marker on a surgical glove worn by a clinician to provide more consistent illumination for a surgical procedure.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES 
     The present application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/471,714 (filed 5 Apr. 2011), which is incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to surgical lighting systems. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     It is generally believed that it would be desirable to produce a surgical lighting system that can eliminate the need for a surgeon or scrub nurse to manually move a surgical light with their hands to provide focused lighting at the surgical site. Such a system would prevent undue contamination of instruments as a result of transfer of bacterium from lamp handles, allow surgical personnel to focus their attention to more important tasks such as instrument passing, and alleviate the need for low-hanging, reachable lamp handles which may obstruct the surgical flow. 
     There exist several different approaches to alleviate this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,769 by Luntsford discloses a surgical lighting system which is remotely controlled by surgical personnel. This system is also capable of “recording” a sequence of lamp configurations which can be “played back” during time of surgery. Another solution as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,492 by Borders describes a system which can control several aspects of operating room function such as: patient table movement, temperature control, and lighting intensity. The solution by Luntsford eliminates the need for surgical personnel to manually move surgical lamps by allowing them to remotely control the lamps, but does not totally eliminate the need to have surgical personnel to initiate such movements, and is therefore only semi-automatic. The solution by Borders suffers from a similar downside, as a user is required to control the disclosed system. Border&#39;s solution offers to modulate the intensity of the surgical lights, but does not allow for movement of said lights. 
     The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,642,836 by Wang et al discusses a device which utilizes voice recognition to control various machines in the operating room including lights. However this system still requires a surgeon or assistant to initiate the lamp movement using their voice, and is thus only semi-automatic. Also, the voice recognition system introduces the complication of voice-recognition which may not always be accurate. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention provides illumination for a surgical procedure. Using an optical tracking system, the illumination is made to automatically track an optical marker on a surgical glove worn by a clinician to provide more consistent illumination for a surgical procedure. 
     The present invention uses a surgical glove that comprises an optical marker that can be detected by an optical sensor. The optical marker may be an active optical marker that emits light in any suitable wavelength range, including infrared. Any suitable light-emitting source may be used. For example, the optical marker may be a light-emitting diode (LED). This active optical marker can be switched on or off when desired by the user (such as a surgeon). Alternatively, the optical marker may be a passive marker that reflects light received from an external source. In some cases, the passive marker may be an infrared reflector. 
     In one embodiment, the present invention provides a surgical lighting system that comprises a lighting apparatus. The lighting apparatus comprises a movable platform and an illumination source on the movable platform. The illumination source provides visible light for performing surgical procedures. The movable platform can be moved to change the direction of the illumination. The lighting apparatus further comprises a motor for moving the movable platform to change the direction of the illumination source. There is a controller operably coupled to the motor and an optical sensor operably coupled to the controller. The automatic operation of the surgical lighting system can be switched on or off by two methods: (a) Switching on or off the controller of the lighting apparatus; or (b) Switching on or off the active optical marker. 
     The optical sensor detects the light emitted or reflected by an optical marker on a surgical glove. The controller operates the motor based on information received from the optical sensor to direct the illumination source towards the glove. 
     The controller may use any suitable tracking, searching, or positioning algorithm. For example, the lighting apparatus may comprise an array of sensors (e g infrared sensors) surrounding the illumination source and arranged in a radial and equidistant pattern from a fixed point. The general direction of movement or placement of the optical marker on the gloved hand can be determined by reading the intensity values and determining the largest intensity value from the array of sensors. In response to the sensor readings, motors on the lighting system move the platform so that the illumination source points in the direction corresponding to the sensor giving the highest intensity reading. 
     In embodiments where the optical marker on the glove is an infrared reflector, the system may rely on an infrared source on the lighting apparatus for providing the infrared emissions. The infrared source may be the same as the illumination source (e.g. the illumination source includes infrared emissions) or a separate component of the lighting apparatus. 
     In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method of providing illumination for a surgical procedure. The method comprises providing a lighting apparatus of the present invention. The method further comprises providing either (a) a surgical glove and an optical marker for attaching to the glove, or (b) a surgical glove comprising an optical marker. The optical sensor detects the light emitted or reflected by the optical marker on the surgical glove. The controller operates the motor based on information received from the optical sensor to direct the illumination source towards the glove. 
     In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method of performing a surgical procedure. In this method, the clinician places a surgical glove that comprises an optical marker on a hand. The clinician moves the gloved hand while performing the surgical procedure. The method further comprises using a lighting apparatus of the present invention. The optical sensor detects the light emitted or reflected by the optical marker on the surgical glove. The controller operates the motor based on information received from the optical sensor to direct the illumination source towards the glove. 
     In another embodiment, the present invention provides a room for performing a surgical procedure. The room comprises a surgical bed or chair; a surgical glove comprising an optical marker, or a surgical glove and separately, an optical marker for attaching to the glove. The room further comprises a lighting apparatus of the present invention. The optical sensor detects the light emitted or reflected by an optical marker on a surgical glove. The controller operates the motor based on information received from the optical sensor to direct the illumination source towards the glove. 
     The lighting apparatus is positioned so that it can be directed towards the surgical bed or chair. For example, the lighting apparatus may be fixed to the ceiling, wall, or floor of the room so that it can be directed towards surgical bed or chair. 
     In another embodiment, the present invention provides a surgical glove comprising an optical marker. Being a surgical glove, the glove may have one or more of the following characteristics: sterile, elastic, conforms tightly to a person&#39;s hand, made of latex or other elastic material, and/or impermeable to body fluids (such as blood, saliva, urine, wound exudate, mucous, etc.). The surgical glove may be used for any suitable medical procedure, including surgical, dental, obstetric, gynecological, and/or dermatological applications. As used herein, surgical procedures include surgical, dental, obstetric, gynecological, veterinary, and/or dermatological procedures. 
     In another embodiment, the optical marker can be placed on bare hands for other uses. In another embodiment, the glove is not necessarily a surgical glove. For example, the glove could be for semiconductor or industrial uses. 
     The optical marker may be part of the glove in any suitable way, such as being embedded in the glove, attached to the glove, or part of the glove as a single unitary article. Alternatively, the optical marker may be provided separately for the user to attach to the glove. For example, the optical marker may be an adhesive patch that can be attached to the glove. In one particular example, the optical marker may be an infrared-reflective adhesive patch that can be attached to the outer surface of the glove (e.g. surface for the back of the hand). In another example, an active optical marker could have an adhesive surface for attachment to any surface including the surgical glove. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates the automated surgical illumination system according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates to the cone attached to the lower arm of the surgical illumination system as an example of the invention. 
         FIG. 3  shows an example lighting apparatus of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  shows an example illumination source and camera of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a functional schematic diagram of the surgical illumination system in which the invention may usefully practice. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates two examples of an optical marker used in the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an example of a switch that can activate and deactivate an active optical marker. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  illustrate an automated surgical illumination system according to one embodiment of the present invention. The base  1  of the device is to be mounted to the ceiling. Attached to the base  1  is the upper arm segment  3 . The upper arm segment  3  rotates 360 degrees both clockwise and counterclockwise on its axis within base  1 . Upper arm segment  3  is able to rotate in said manner when motor  2  is turned on in either direction. Attached to the upper arm segment  3  at hinge  5  is lower arm segment  6 . Lower arm segment  6  rotates 180 degrees both clockwise and counterclockwise at hinge  5 . Lower arm segment  6  is able to rotate in said manner when motor  4  is turned on in either direction. At the end of lower arm attaches a third motor  7  that gives the cone the third range of motion. The lamp reflective cone  8  also functions as a stage for several sensors  9  mounted to the cone  8  to form a sensor array. The light source  10  is affixed and centered inside the reflective cone  8 . 
     An LED emitter (active optical marker)  11  is embedded in a surgical glove worn over the hand. A switch  12  connects and disconnects power to the LED emitter and is worn at a location on the surgeon&#39;s hand or body. The said gloved hand is placed underneath the reflective cone  8 , which also functions as the sensor array stage. 
       FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4  illustrate another embodiment of the present invention using a passive optical marker. The lamp reflective cone  8  houses several infrared (IR) LEDs  14  and a camera with IR pass filter  15 . The light source  10  is affixed outside the IR LEDs  14  and a camera with IR pass filter  15 . 
     An IR-reflective patch  13  is embedded in a surgical glove worn over the hand. The IR-reflective patch  13  reflects the light in the IR wavelength emitted by IR LEDs  14 . The camera with IR pass filter  15  then senses the position of the IR-reflective patch. 
       FIG. 5  is a functional schematic diagram of the automated surgical illumination system according to the present invention. This diagram should be taken exemplary of the type of device in which the invention may be embodied, and not as limiting, as it is believed that the invention may usefully be practiced in variety of device implementations including instances where the surgical light is desired to be fixated on a point, thus only tracking when the surgeon initiates tracking. User input comprising of an optical marker (e.g. IR source or IR LED) is detected by the sensor (e.g. IR sensor), which is mounted with the light. The detection in terms of voltage is connected to the input of the microprocessor. Microprocessor makes a calculation and makes a decision whether or not the sensor is centered on the IR source. If the microprocessor makes a decision that the IR sensor is centered on the optical marker, then, the activation of motor stops. However, if the microprocessor decides that the IR sensor is not centered on the optical marker, the motors are activated to center the sensor on the optical marker. 
       FIG. 6  shows two examples of an optical marker used in the present invention. In one example, an LED emitter (active optical marker)  11  is embedded in a surgical glove worn over the hand in which a switch  12  activates and deactivates the active optical marker  11 . In another example, an IR-reflective patch  13  (passive optical marker) attaches to the surgical glove worn over the hand and does not have a switch. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates an example of a switch  12  in its on and off position. This switch controls whether the active optical marker is activated or deactivated.