Pei Zhong, PhD, PI of the Duke University FORWARD Urology Center, has spent his career researching how to optimize laser lithotripsy treatment. The following excerpt from a recently published article highlights Dr. Zhong’s groundbreaking work.
“Zhong first encountered kidney stone treatment, or lithotripsy, while attending graduate school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in the early 1990s. At the time, shockwave lithotripsy — a technique that uses acoustic shockwaves to break stones from outside the body — had just been approved by the FDA. By focusing shockwaves on a kidney stone, doctors could fracture it into pieces small enough to be extracted or passed naturally. “All of a sudden, you don’t have to perform open surgery to remove the stone: Patients can be treated noninvasively,” Zhong recalled.
The medical community was thrilled by this noninvasive technique, but this enthusiasm came with uncertainty. Manufacturers provided recommended ranges for lithotripter machine settings such as power level and pulse repetition rate. But in the clinic, doctors had to make their own calls for how to adjust these settings if outcomes weren’t as expected. Even more basic questions remained unanswered: How exactly did shockwaves break stones? And what damage might they cause to surrounding tissue? Those unanswered questions became the focus of Zhong’s research.
Over the past several decades, his work has investigated the acoustic and mechanical physics underlying shockwave lithotripsy, helping clarify how stones fracture and how tissue injuries occur. One interesting insight from this work was the role of cavitation bubbles, or tiny vapor pockets that rapidly form and collapse under extreme pressure changes caused by the shockwaves. These bubbles, Zhong’s lab showed, play a key role alongside the shockwaves to help break stones apart.”
To read the full article, click here.