The Impact of Dust and Confinement on Fragmentation of Kidney Stones by Shockwave Lithotripsy in Tissue Phantoms

The goal was to test whether stone composition and kidney phantom configuration affected comminution in extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) laboratory tests. Confinement may enhance the accumulation of dust and associated cavitation bubbles in the fluid surrounding the stone. It is known that high shockwave delivery rates in SWL are less effective because bubbles generated by one shockwave do not have sufficient time to dissolve, thereby shielding the next shockwave. Experiments were conducted with a lithotripter coupled to a water bath. The rate of comminution was measured by weighing fragments over 2 mm at 5-minute time points. First, plaster and crystal stones were broken in four phantoms: a nylon wire mesh, an open polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cup, a closed PVC cup, and an anatomical kidney model-the phantoms have decreasing fluid volumes around the stone. Second, the fluid volume in the kidney model was flushed with water at different rates (0, 7, and 86 mL/min) to remove dust. The efficiency of breakage of stones decreases for the dust emitting plaster stones (percentage of breakage in 5 minutes decreased from 92% ± 2% [ = 3] in wire mesh to 19% ± 3% [ = 3] in model calix) with increasing confinement, but not for the calcite crystal stones that produced little dust (percentage of breakage changed from 87% ± 3% [ = 3] in wire mesh to 81% ± 3% [ = 3] in kidney model). Flushing the kidney phantom at the fastest rate improved comminution of smaller plaster stones by 27%. Phantoms restricting dispersion of dust were found to affect stone breakage in SWL and experiments should replicate kidney environments. The dust around the stone and potential cavitation may shield the stone from shockwaves and reduce efficacy of SWL. Understanding of stone composition and degree of hydronephrosis could be used to adapt patient-specific protocols.