External shock wave lithotripsy - using sound transducer coupled to internally inserted sound conductor for monitoring body stone fragmentation

摘要

The litho tripsy method involves using a sound transducer (18, 19) on the outside of the body, coupled to a soundware conductor (14, 15) which is inserted in the body and brought into contact with the body stone (13) to be removed. The sound waves emitted during the fragmentation of the body stone (13) are detected. A catheter (10) has two clamp arms (11, 12) for gripping the body stone (13) and a pair of sound wave conductors (14, 15), each coupled to a respective sound transducer (18, 19) at its proximal end. The transducers are coupled to an electronic evaluation device (1). ADVANTAGE - In-situ control of lithotripsy process.