Microtromography of cavitation-induced erosion of model kidney stones

Shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) is a non-invasive clinical procedure used to break renal calculi, in kidneys, into small fragments that body fluids eventually evacuated. Upon exposure to the negative phase of a pulsed shock wave (the tensile component), cavitation bubbles are formed near the stone surface. The collapse of stone with shock wave stands out as an efficient clinical modality, but at the cost of injurious effects. In the attempt to limit side effects by reducing the source intensity, new high-intensity focused ultrasound-based lithotripsy (HIFUL) has recently been proposed as an alternative method to ESWL. In this work, we will use a ultrasound lithotripter to induce erosion of stones (fake phantom material) in order to quantify the efficiency of this new procedure. This inhouse proposal buildis up onto already performed experiment ME1559.