HIGH-INTENSITY TARGETED CAVITATION AS A MORE EFFICIENT AND SAFER APPROACH TO TREAT KIDNEY STONES

摘要

An apparatus to provide a safer and more efficient non-invasive treatment of kidney stones is under development. The proposed non-invasive alternative is to produce a tightly focused high-intensity cavitation cloud right at the stone; the cloud being electronically steerable in real time to compensate for the respiratory movements which would significantly reduce the exposition of healthy tissues to damaging shock waves. The piloted cloud is produced by 19 independent novel shock wave generators that are geometrically oriented towards a single focal point. The real-time steering is accomplished by applying different emission delays between the shock wave generators. The steering capability of the 19-channel prototype was monitored in vitro using a pressure sensor and kidney stone analogs. Promising tests were also conducted on ex-vivo pigs to measure the erosion rate of implanted artificial kidney stones.