Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/mCtXCkNNyIE

 

The procedure typically used to pulverize kidney stones prior to flushing them out is shock wave lithotripsy.  This relatively violent ultrasonic blasting can be painful and unnerving and requires at least sedation and usually either regional or general anesthesia.  Now, Seattle’s University of Washington urologists and radiologists have developed a gentler method that works without anesthesia and uses ultrasonic propulsion of stones from the kidney and though the entire urinary tract and out.  For larger stones, burst wave lithotripsy first fragments the stone with painless ultrasonic energy in a manner similar to the way sounds can shatter a wine glass.

 

https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/JU.0000000000002864

#kidneystones #lithotripsy #ultrasound #anesthesia