| CPC A61B 18/22 (2013.01) [A61B 1/00013 (2013.01); A61B 1/0008 (2013.01); A61B 2018/00404 (2013.01); A61B 2018/00577 (2013.01); A61B 2018/00642 (2013.01); A61B 2018/00702 (2013.01); A61B 2018/00982 (2013.01); A61B 2018/205547 (2017.05); A61B 2562/0204 (2013.01)] | 29 Claims |

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1. A endoscopic laser energy delivery system, comprising:
a laser system configured to direct laser energy to a target in a body of a subject via an optical pathway;
an acoustic sensor configured to sense an acoustic signal resulting from pressure waves in liquid media produced by the laser energy incident on the target; and
an acoustic feedback controller circuit configured to:
measure one or more acoustic properties from the sensed acoustic signal, the one or more acoustic properties including temporal information about a peak of the acoustic signal, wherein the temporal information represents time elapsed for the laser energy to travel from the laser system to target through the liquid media and time elapsed for the acoustic signal to travel to the acoustic sensor;
estimate a distance between a distal end of the optical pathway and the target based at least in part on the temporal information about the peak of the acoustic signal; and
generate a first control signal for controlling the laser system to produce laser energy for delivery to the target based on the estimated distance between the distal end of the optical pathway and the target.
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