The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 26, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 14, 1994
Albert C Smith, Los Altos, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
Apparatus for surgical repair of a detached retina includes an array of insulated electrodes that can be positioned adjacent the rear of an eye near the detachment site for selective excitation of pairs of the electrodes to selectively develop electrostatic attractive force on the retina that is detached from the rear of the eye. The array of electrodes may be selectively deployed and retrieved from the distal end of the cannula which can be positioned near the detachment site to facilitate orientation and control of the electrostatic force. Plural electrodes in multiple sets may be selectively activated in order to reposition of the electrostatic force without substantially altering the position of the array near the rear of the eye. A controllable power supply may include manual and foot-actuated controls for switching multiple sets of electrodes and altering the magnitude of the electrostatic force developed at the operational site. Cryopexy or photocoagulation or diathermy techniques may be utilized to scarify the attachment of the retina to the rear wall of the eye once the detached retina is repositioned against the rear wall of the eye by the attractive electrostatic force exerted on the retina.