University of California

Roy Chuck

George Baerveldt

Ramez Emile Necola Shehada

Peter J McDonnell

Apparatuses and methods for the treatment of glaucoma are provided. The instrument uses either cauterization, a laser to ablate, sonic or ultrasonic energy to emulsify, or mechanical cutting of a portion of the trabecular meshwork. The instrument may also be provided with irrigation, aspiration, and a footplate. The footplate is used to enter Schlemm's canal, serves as a guide, and also protects Schlemm's canal.

Minimally invasive glaucoma surgical instrument and method

Methods and systems for determination of one or more substances within a material are described. A flow of fluorescence-exciting/ablative energy (e.g., laser pulse(s), preferably in the ultraviolet region (e.g. 193-nm)), is directed onto the material to ablate a thin layer of the material using photochemical decomposition. Simultaneously, the laser energy induces fluorescence of the substance(s) within the ablated layer of the material. The fluorescence emitted by the substance(s) is then received by a device, which measures the spectrum of the received fluorescence. The fluorescence spectra are then transmitted to a spectral processing device adapted to determine, on the basis of the fluorescence spectra, whether the substance(s) of interest is/are present in the material and/or the concentration at which the substance(s) of interest is/are present in the material. This process may be repeated for each layer of the material to determine the concentration gradient of the substance(s) of interest in the material.

System and method for quantitative or qualitative measurement of exogenous substances in tissue and other materials using laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy

A surgical instrument and methods for the treatment of glaucoma are provided. The instrument uses either cauterization, a laser to ablate, sonic or ultrasonic energy to emulsify, or mechanical cutting of a portion of the trabecular meshwork. The instrument may also be provided with irrigation, aspiration, and a footplate. The footplate is used to enter Schlemm's canal, serves as a guide, and also protects Schlemm's canal.

A system, apparatus and method for harvesting from the eye of a mammilian (e.g., cadaveric) donor a disc-shaped graft or lenticle consisting of corneal tissue and a quantity of scleral or pericorneal tissue wherein limbal stem cells are located. This graft or lenticle is then transplanted onto the eye of a human or veterinary patient to treat a disorder caused by the absence or deficiency of limbal stem cells in the patient's eye. The system of the present invention comprises a) an eye-contacting ring and cutter guide apparatus and b) a cutter apparatus. The eye-contacting ring and cutter guide apparatus is initially placed in contact with the donor eye such that a portion of the cornea and adjacent scleral or pericorneal tissue containing limbal stem cells protrudes upwardly through the center of the ring. The cutter is then engaged with guide member(s) formed on the ring and the cutter is advanced, severing the protruding cornea and stem-cell-containing pericorneal tissue. In this manner the desired lenticle is obtained for subsequent transplantation.

Growing community of inventors

Irvine, CA, United States of America

Roy Chuck