MINIATURE IN VIVO HYDROPHONES FOR LITHOTRIPTER USE

THE PURPOSE OF THIS WORK IS TO DEVELOP A NEW CLASS OF MINIATURE PRECISION ACOUSTIC SENSORS (HYDROPHONES) THAT WOULD SURVIVE IN AN IN VIVO SHOCK-WAVE FIELD. THE IMMEDIATEAPPLICATION OF THE DEVICE IS IN IMPROVING THE SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF EXTRACORPOREAL SHOCK-WAVE LITHOTRIPSY (ESWL) TREATMENT OF KIDNEY AND GALLBLADDER STONES. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH INVOLVES (1) THEORETICAL MODELING TO EXAMINE DESIGNTRADE-OFFS ASSOCIATED WITH MATERIAL CHOICE AND SENSOR CONFIGURATION, (2) MATERIALS TESTING TO DETERMINE ACOUSTICALPROPERTIES AND DURABILITY, (3) PROTOTYPE DESIGN AND ASSEMBLY, (4) ACOUSTICAL PERFORMANCE CHARACTERIZATION, AND (5) SURVIVABILITY TESTS UNDER SHOCK-WAVE CONDITIONS. WHEN FULLY DEVELOPED, THE HYDROPHONES WOULD BE USED FOR IN VIVO MONITORING OF ESWL TREATMENT. THE HYDROPHONE WILL BE SMALL (100 MHZ BANDWIDTH), NEARLY OMNIDIRECTIONAL (>90 DEGREES CAPTURE ANGLE), AND ROBUST ENOUGH TO SURVIVE REPEATED SHOCK WAVES. IT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN LITHOTRIPSY TREATMENT,IN TERMS OF UNDERSTANDING THE MECHANISM OF STONE DESTRUCTIONAND TISSUE DAMAGE, IMPROVING TREATMENT EFFICACY, REDUCING PATIENT TRAUMA, AND REGULATING NEW LITHOTRIPSY TECHNOLOGY.