If you have ever had a kidney stone, or know someone who has, you know how painful and uncomfortable it can be. The Swiss Lithoclast Pneumatic Lithotripter uses ballistic energy to break up the stone and remove the fragments that remain.
Ballistic energy uses bursts of compressed air to direct a projectile within a probe.
Because kidney stones are inflexible, when the wave of energy hits the stone, the stone breaks apart. The harder the stone, the more likely it will be to fragment upon impact. The procedure can be performed as a same-day surgery. There are several important advantages over other techniques that use similar means for removal of kidney stones, according to Joel Cohen, M.D., a staff urologist at Muhlenberg experienced with this procedure. Also, electricity is not required to generate ballistic energy, eliminating the risk of electric shock during surgery.