EP-4736799-A2 - SURGICAL LASER SYSTEMS AND LASER DEVICES

EP4736799A2EP 4736799 A2EP4736799 A2EP 4736799A2EP-4736799-A2

Abstract

A surgical laser system comprises an array of laser diodes configured to output laser energy. The surgical laser system further comprises a fiber bundle which comprises a plurality of optical fibers and has a proximal end configured to receive the laser energy from the array of laser diodes. Further, the surgical laser system comprises a delivery fiber which has a proximal end configured to receive laser energy from a distal end of the fiber bundle. The surgical laser system further comprises a tubular sheath defining a lumen in which at least a portion of the delivery fiber is disposed, wherein the tubular sheath is insertable into a working channel of an endoscope or cystoscope and includes a distal end configured to deliver laser energy discharged from the delivery fiber into a body of a patient.

Inventors

YU, Honggang
XUAN, RONGWEI JASON
ZHANG, Jian James
HORN, DAVID N.
YANG, XIRONG
HASENBERG, THOMAS

Assignees

Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20151113

Claims (15)

A surgical laser system (100) comprising: an array of laser diodes (104) configured to output laser energy (106); a fiber bundle (108) comprising a plurality of optical fibers (110) and having a proximal end (112) configured to receive the laser energy (106) from the array of laser diodes (104); a delivery fiber (114) having a proximal end (116) configured to receive laser energy (118) from a distal end (120) of the fiber bundle (108); and a tubular sheath (123) defining a lumen in which at least a portion of the delivery fiber (114) is disposed, wherein the tubular sheath (123) is insertable into a working channel of an endoscope or cystoscope and includes a distal end (125) configured to deliver laser energy (102) discharged from the delivery fiber (114) into a body of a patient.
The surgical laser system according to claim 1, wherein the array of laser diodes (104) comprises a plurality of laser diode subsets configured to be selectively activated.
The surgical laser system according to claim 2, wherein a first subset of the laser diodes is operable to produce a first beam of laser energy, and activation of a second subset of the laser diodes together with the first subset produces a second beam having a different size or shape.
The surgical laser system according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising a controller (174) configured to selectively activate and deactivate the laser diode subsets.
The surgical laser system according to any preceding claim, wherein at least one laser diode (104) is configured to output laser energy having a wavelength of approximately 532 nm.
The surgical laser system according to any preceding claim, wherein each optical fiber (110) of the fiber bundle (108) is optically coupled to at least one laser diode (104).
The surgical laser system according to any preceding claim, wherein the plurality of optical fibers (110) comprises a plurality of fiber subsets, each fiber subset being optically coupled to a corresponding subset of the laser diodes (104).
The surgical laser system according to claim 7, wherein the fiber subsets comprise optical fibers having different fiber properties selected from core size, core shape, or numerical aperture.
The surgical laser system according to claim 7 or 8, wherein optical fibers of at least one fiber subset are arranged in a linear array within the fiber bundle (108).
The surgical laser system according to claim 9, wherein activation of the laser diode subset coupled to the linear array of optical fibers produces a line-shaped laser beam.
The surgical laser system according to claim 7 or 8, wherein optical fibers of at least one fiber subset are arranged in an annular pattern within the fiber bundle (108).
The surgical laser system according to claim 11, wherein activation of the laser diode subset coupled to the annularly arranged optical fibers produces an annular or ring-shaped laser beam.
The surgical laser system according to any preceding claim, wherein the delivery fiber (114) comprises an optical fiber having a non-circular core.
The surgical laser system according to claim 13, wherein the delivery fiber comprises a rectangular core configured to transmit a line-shaped laser beam.
The surgical laser system according to any preceding claim, wherein the delivery fiber (114) comprises: a central light delivery medium (142), and an annular light delivery medium (146) surrounding the central light delivery medium, the central and annular light delivery media being configured to receive laser energy from different subsets of the laser diodes.

Description

BACKGROUND Embodiments of the invention generally relate to laser devices including, for example, laser systems, laser bars and laser modules comprising laser diodes, and methods of using the laser devices. Lasers have been increasingly adopted as medical surgical tools and optical fibers have been normally used as delivery devices. As compared to traditional surgical tools, laser surgery can reduce bleeding, pain and infection. Additionally, patients often have less hospitalization time after laser surgery. High power and high brightness fiber-coupled diode lasers have been increasingly adopted in industrial and medical applications because of their intrinsically simple design, low cost and high wall plug efficiency. Laser diode bars, which comprise multiple laser diodes, have been the common building blocks for the high power laser systems. However, for some wavelength ranges, laser diode bars are not available. Thus, it is necessary to utilize only single semiconductor laser diode emitters or semiconductor lasers (hereinafter "laser diodes") for these wavelength ranges. Due to their low power, it is necessary to combine the output laser energy from multiple laser diodes into an optical fiber to provide the desired power level. However, it can be difficult to combine the laser energy from individual laser diodes into a single composite beam, particularly when it is desired to have a high power composite laser energy beam (e.g., more than 100W) using low power (e.g., 1-3W) laser diodes. Different surgical applications often utilize laser energy having different properties. For example, different surgical applications may require laser energy having different wavelengths, different pulse widths and pulse repetition rates, different beam sizes and shapes, different power intensities and different feedback systems. Embodiments of the invention provide solutions to these and other problems. SUMMARY Embodiments are directed to surgical laser systems and laser devices utilizing a plurality of laser diodes. One embodiment of a surgical laser system includes an array of laser diodes that are configured to output laser energy, a fiber bundle, a delivery fiber, and a tubular sheath. The fiber bundle includes a plurality of optical fibers and has a proximal end that is configured to receive laser energy from the array of laser diodes. The delivery fiber includes a proximal end that is configured to receive laser energy from a distal end of the fiber bundle. The tubular sheath defines a lumen, in which at least a portion of the delivery fiber is disposed. The tubular sheath is insertable into a working channel of an endoscope or a cystoscope. A distal end of the tubular sheath is configured to deliver laser energy discharged from the delivery fiber into a body of a patient. Some embodiments are directed to a method of treating a patient using the above-described surgical laser system. In one embodiment of the method, the tubular sheath is inserted into a body of the patient. A first sub-array of the laser diodes are operated to deliver a first beam of laser energy to a tissue of the patient. The first and a second sub-array of the laser diodes are simultaneously operated to deliver a second beam of laser energy to the tissue of the patient having a different size or shape than the first beam. Another embodiment is directed to a method of producing a laser beam using a surgical laser system. In the method, a discreet beam of laser energy is output from each of a first sub-array of laser diodes. A proximal end of a fiber bundle is optically coupled to the discreet beams of laser energy. The discreet beams of laser energy are discharged through a distal end of the fiber bundle. A proximal end of a delivery fiber is optically coupled to the discreet beams of laser energy discharged through the distal end of the fiber bundle. A composite beam of laser energy comprising the discreet beams of laser energy is discharged through a distal end of the delivery fiber. In some embodiments, the shape of the composite beam is adjusted by outputting discreet beams of laser energy from a second sub-array of the laser diodes that is different from the first sub-array. In some embodiments, the method comprises adjusting a size of the composite beam by outputting discreet beams of laser energy from a second sub-array of the laser diodes that is different from the first sub-array. This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the Background. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a laser system in accordance wit