2012 IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics

Workshop on Robot-Assisted Laryngeal Microsurgery

Bidirectional translational research: an illustration with fluorescence diagnosis

Olivier Gaiffe¹, Christian Pieralli², Lionel Pazart¹, Bruno Wacogne^1,2

¹ University Hospital of Besançon, France

² FEMTO-ST, France

Translational research is a rather new and rapidly evolving concept. The general idea is to translate fundamental research results closer to the patient via preclinical and clinical trials. In other words, it consists in taking research from bench to bedside. It naturally requires close collaboration between scientists and end-users. Clinical trials often lead to questions that require further research actions in order to improve the initial proof of concept. Therefore, the concept of bidirectional translational research is emerging: forward from researchers to end-users and then back to research for answering new questions or improving current results. In this conference, we propose to illustrate this idea through examples concerning fluorescence optical diagnosis, and more precisely tools that can be envisaged for vocal fold disease assessment.