Ultrasonic lithotripter

摘要

The invention relates to an ultrasonic lithotripter for destroying and removing stone concretions in the human body, i.e., e.g., bladder stones (cystoliths), kidney stones, ureteroliths and gall stones. It consists of a piezoelectric transducer and a probe, which can be brought up to the stone located inside the patient. The piezoelectric transducer is fed from a radio-frequency generator. A ladder network of two acoustic transformers is provided between the piezoelectric transducer and the probe. The first acoustic transformer is rigidly connected to the clamping system of the piezoelectric transducer and the second acoustic transformer is rigidly connected to the probe. A detachable connection such as, e.g., a screw connection is located between the two acoustic transformers. As a result, the probe can be removed from the remaining part of the lithotripter and replaced by other probes. The second acoustic transformer is specially dimensioned for each shape of probe, so that for each shape of probe the appropriate power is transmitted from the radio-frequency generator to the piezoelectric transducer and thus to the probe. The advantage of the arrangement consists in that the lithotripter can be adapted to any application by a simple exchange of the probe, and the appropriate power is always automatically transmitted to the respective probe. <IMAGE>