INTRODUCTION
Lithotripsy is the favoured technique for the destruction of kidney and gall stones. Thousands of shock waves, emitted one per second, are focused onto the stones and break them up.
Lithotripsy is the favoured technique for the destruction of kidney and gall stones. Thousands of shock waves, emitted one per second, are focused onto the stones and break them up.
We are devising an instrument which can be placed onto
the patient’s abdomen. It listens to the echoes as the shock hits the
stone and from that tells us:
Whether
the stone is in the target area (if not, healthy tissue is shocked and
the stone remains intact)
The
moment the stone has broken, so that treatment can cease (which avoids
prolonged exposure, allowing more patients to be treated and saving very
costly wear and tear on the shock wave source).
