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Department of Engineering, ICT and Technologies for Energy and Transport Patent Title Hand piece for laser induced­suture of the cornea. Ref. CNR 1709 Assignee (s): CNR CNR Institute: IFAC Main Inventor: Roberto Pini Countries: IT, FR, DE, UK Priority date: 09/11/2005 Abstract The invention relates to an applicator handpiece for laser­induced suture of biological tissues, in which the transmission of the laser radiation on the surface to be irradiated is realized by means of optical fibers. The handpiece includes a handle that has a terminal section made of a material transparent to laser radiation, in which the end tips of one or more optical fiber are arranged to irradiate the wound. The terminal section has the purpose of pre­establishing the distance between the fibers and the surface to be irradiated, so as to keep constant the laser intensity on the surface of tissue during suturing operations. Background The laser­induced corneal suturing technique has been proposed in ophthalmic surgery. The laser activation produces, at a microscopic level, the interdigitation of collagen fibrils which realizes, at a macroscopic level, the suturing and sealing of the corneal wound. One of the main technical problems that have so far limited the diffusion of this technique in the clinical setting is the control of the local temperature, which depends on the laser radiation intensity (Watts/cm ) on the corneal surface. 2 Technology The application hand piece to perform laser­induced suturing of the cornea is a suitably designed device to be operated by the eye surgeon under the operating microscope. The terminal section is made of a transparent, biocompatible and sterilizable plastic material. It can be achieved with low­cost materials to provide a disposable device. Advantages and Applications In the laser­induced suturing, the irradiation is typically performed with an optical fiber manually operated by the surgeon and maintained at a distance of some millimeters from the corneal surface, but without certainty of the actual distance. The invention solves this problem and allows to fix the specific power per unit of surface on the irradiated area. Development stage The construction technology, the materials and the industrial cost of the handpiece have been evaluated but the phase of prototypical development has not been yet implemented. 25