3. Laser beam control: case study

This section deals with the automatic control of a surgical laser during a surgical procedure for vocal cord microsurgery. This is one of the most demanding surgical procedures in terms of quality control of laser-tissue interaction. This is due in particular to the fact that the folds of the vocal cords are very fine, fragile tissues whose mechanical and acoustic properties must be preserved for optimal functioning. Consequently, it is essential to control the position and speed of the laser spot on the tissue.

As part of a European project (µRALP – http://www.microralp.eu ), a consortium of Italian (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia – http://www.iit.it and Universitá Delgi Studi di Genova –...