Patent 9980776 was granted and assigned to Boston Scientific on May, 2018 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A medical laser system and related methods of utilizing cooling within and around an optical fiber tip to prevent premature failure of the optical fiber. The optical fiber is surrounded by protective jacket assembly including a body tube assembly and a tip cap assembly. The body tube assembly includes an internal fiber jacket and an external body tube with a body tube channel defined therebetween. The tip cap assembly includes an inner cap member and an outer cap member defining a cap irrigation channel therebetween. Together, the cap irrigation channel and body tube channel cooperatively define an internal irrigation channel. The optical fiber can be delivered to a treatment location through a cystoscope. Saline is directed through an external irrigation channel between the cystoscope and the protective jacket assembly as well as the internal irrigation channel to cool the fiber tip and prevent overheating and failure of the optical fiber.