Scientists at the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory have developed a new device that allows doctors to use ultrasound to move kidney stones inside the body and help them pass naturally.
"Ultrasound is used today to break up large stones. That's not what we're doing," Michael Bailey, an engineer at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement. "We've developed low-power ultrasound that could move small stones to reduce pain, expense and treatment times."
A 15-patient trial using the technology is now being conducted at the University of Washington and is supported by the National Institutes of Health and National Space Biomedical Research Institute, which is interested in the device because astronauts have an increased risk of developing kidney stones in outer space. Announcement