Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1994-09-21
1996-09-17
Rimell, Sam
Surgery
Truss
Pad
128749, 351210, A61B 310
Patent
active
055558950
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process and device for analyzing the movement of the eye or eyes of a patient, i.e. of a human being or animal.
The technical domain of the invention is that of the manufacture of devices for measuring the movement of the eyes.
The interest of the invention is, above all, medical. Its preferred application is the exploration of vertigos and disorders of balance, which are one of the principal pathologies with which doctors are faced (one patient out of twenty in general practice).
In this domain of preferred application of the invention, the eye is considered as an indicator of the activity of the vestibulum (or posterior labyrinth), which is an organ of balance located in the internal ear sensitive to the absolute position as well as to the movements of the head. This organ influences by reflex (therefore involuntarily) the tonus of all the skeletal muscles, in particular that of the eye muscles. When it is stimulated, either by movements of the head, or artificially, in particular by thermal effects in the internal ear, the vestibulum is capable of inducing automatic movements of the eyes or nystagmus, which are synchronous for the two eyes. Consequently, the observation of either one of these two eyes (if the eye muscles are normal) is an excellent reflection of the functioning of the vestibulum. However, account must be taken of a considerable constraint which results from the fact that the eye also responds to visual stimulations and that the system of vision takes priority and is more powerful than that of the vestibulum: observation of the nystagmus therefore indicates the functioning of the internal ear only if the patient is in total darkness, i.e. if his/her two eyes receive no visible light.
To test the vestibulum from the oculomotor indicator, several conditions must therefore be complied with: during all the tests of the examination. movements and reflexes of visual origin, during so-called "tracking tests" which consist in projecting fixed or mobile targets or visual stimuli proposed for the patient's sight in the scene. subjected and for which the oculomotor response is studied (essentially the movements of his head with respect to the scene or his head with respect to his thorax) must be able to be recorded and analyzed at the same time as the movements of the control eye. which the total absence of light visible solely by the patient is rendered necessary.
In order better to understand the object of the present invention, account must also be taken of the fact that the constraint of tightness to visible light, although it is indispensable for the exploration of the vestibular activity, may become limitative in the case of more restrictive examinations made by other doctors, for whom the observation and analysis of the ocular movements presents a slightly different interest, when for example solely tracking tests or follow-up and analysis tests of the sight are made. In that case, a device according to the preferred application might be unsuitable if it does not provide in its embodiment that the solution made to the condition of tightness is carried out only as supplementary, secondary option, independent of the basic device.
The principal object of the present invention is therefore to provide a device and process for observation, measuring and analysis of eye movements, which makes it possible to implement during the same, preferably medical examination, the following four priorities, except the last for certain examinations, namely in order of priority, firstly, the necessity of being able to observe and/or analyze the movement of an eye at least during the whole of the examination; secondly, the necessity of being able to liberate the field of vision of an eye at least facing the scene; thirdly, the necessity of being able to observe and/or analyze, at the same time as the movements of at least one eye, all the visual and vestibular ocular stimuli, i.e. the movements of the visual targets with respect to the head, the move
REFERENCES:
patent: 4613219 (1986-09-01), Vogel
patent: 4852988 (1989-08-01), Velez et al.
patent: 5218387 (1993-06-01), Ueno et al.
Medical And Biological Engineering And Computing, vol. 28, No. 4, Juillet 1990, Stevenage GB pp. 317-324.
Yamada, et al, "Development of an eye-movement analyser possesing functions for wireless transmission and autocalibration." voir p. 318, ligne 31--p. 320, ligne 19; Fig. 1,2.
Guillemant Philippe
Ulmer Erik
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Rimell Sam
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