Cavitation phenomena in extracorporeal microexplosion lithotripsy

An experimental investigation was made of cavitation phenomena induced by underwater shock wave focusing applied to the extracorporeal microexplosion lithotripsy (microexplosion ESWL). Firstly an underwater microexplosion generated by detonation of a 10 mg silver azide pellet was studied and secondly underwater shock focusing and its induced cavitation phenomena were investgated. Underwater shock wave was focused by using a semi-ellipsoidal reflector in which a shock wave generated at the first focal point of the reflector was reflected and focused at the second focal point. It is found that an explosion product gas bubble did not produce any distinct rebound shocks. Meantime cavitation appeared after shock focusing at the second focal point where expansion waves originated at the exit of the reflector were simultaneously collected. A shock/bubble interaction is found to contribute not only to urinary tract stone disintegration but also tissue damage. The cavitation effect associated with the microexplosion ESWL was weaker in comparison with a spark discharge ESWL. The microexplosion ESWL is an effective method which can minimize the number of shock exposures hence decreasing tissue damage by conducting precise positioning of urinary tract stones.This article was processed using Springer-Verlag T_EX Shock Waves macro package 1.0 and the AMS fonts, developed by the American Mathematical Society.