Surgical laser treatment temperature monitoring

Abstract

A surgical laser system includes a laser source configured to generate laser energy, a laser fiber optically coupled to the laser source and configured to discharge the laser energy and collect electromagnetic energy feedback from a treatment site, a photodetector configured to generate an output signal in response to the electromagnetic energy collected from the treatment site, a display, and a controller configured to produce an image or indication about the temperature at the treatment site on the display based on the output signal.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A surgical laser system comprising:
 a laser source configured to generate laser energy;   a laser fiber optically coupled to the laser source and configured to discharge the laser energy and collect electromagnetic energy feedback from a treatment site;   a photodetector configured to generate an output signal in response to the electromagnetic energy collected from the treatment site;   a display; and   a controller configured to produce an image or indication about at least one condition at the treatment site on the display based on the output signal.   
     
     
         2 . The surgical laser system of  claim 1 , wherein the output signal corresponds to a condition at the treatment site. 
     
     
         3 . The surgical laser system of  claim 2 , wherein the condition at the treatment site is selected from the group consisting of temperature and treatment mode. 
     
     
         4 . The surgical laser system of  claim 3 , wherein the treatment mode is selected from the group consisting of vaporization and coagulation. 
     
     
         5 . The surgical laser system of  claim 1 , wherein the image includes temperature information, which is based on the output signal, the temperature information indicating, an approximate temperature at the treatment site where the laser energy is discharged by the laser fiber, or an average approximate temperature at the treatment site over a period of time. 
     
     
         6 . The surgical laser system of  claim 5 , wherein the image includes a graphical display of the temperature information or an alphanumeric display of the temperature information. 
     
     
         7 . The surgical laser system of  claim 1 , wherein the image includes treatment mode information based on the output signal the treatment mode information indicating a laser treatment being performed a treatment site where the laser energy is discharged by the laser fiber. 
     
     
         8 . The surgical laser system of  claim 7 , wherein the image includes treatment mode boundaries indicating upper and lower operating parameters of at least one treatment mode. 
     
     
         9 . The surgical laser of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the laser energy discharged through the laser fiber responsive to the output signal. 
     
     
         10 . The surgical laser system of  claim 1 , further comprising an input device, wherein tire controller is configured to control the laser energy discharged through the laser fiber responsive to a user input received through the input device. 
     
     
         11 . The surgical laser system of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to convert the output signal from a time-based signal to a frequency-based signal. 
     
     
         12 . The surgical laser system of  claim 11 , wherein treatment modes are identified using the frequency-based signal. 
     
     
         13 . A method of operating a surgical laser system comprising the steps of:
 generating laser energy using a laser source;   discharging the laser energy through a laser fiber to a treatment site;   delivering electromagnetic energy feedback from the treatment site produced in response to discharging the laser energy to the treatment site to a photodetector;   generating a photodetector output signal;   analyzing the photodetector output signal using a controller; and   displaying treatment site information on a display based on the photodetector output signal analyzed by the controller.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein displaying the treatment site information includes displaying temperature information based on the output signal, the temperature information indicative of a temperature at the treatment site. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein displaying the treatment site information includes displaying a treatment mode of the surgical laser system. 
     
     
         16 . A method of operating a surgical laser system comprising the steps of:
 generating laser energy using a laser source;   discharging the laser energy through a laser fiber to a treatment site;   analyzing electromagnetic energy feedback from the treatment site produced in response to discharging the laser energy to the treatment site; and   automatically adjusting the laser energy based on the analysis of the electromagnetic energy feedback.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the electromagnetic energy feedback is delivered to a photodetector for generating a photodetector output signal. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein a controller is used to analyze the photodetector output signal. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the controller automatically adjust the laser energy in response to the photodetector output analysis. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein adjusting the laser energy is selected from the group consisting of adjusting the laser power, adjusting a duty cycle of the laser energy, adjusting a modulation of the laser energy, adjusting an intensity an input light to a laser gain medium of a laser resonator of the laser source, adjusting laser pulse widths, adjusting repetition rate and adjusting a wavelength.