Gilles THOMAS Thesis defense

Author: Gilles THOMAS
Summary: Kidney Stones can be found in the kidney, ureter, or in the bladder, and affect about 1 in 11 people at least once in a lifetime in the US. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is a widely used technique where high intensity acoustic pulses are focused toward kidney stones in order to break them. The work presented in this thesis focus on optimizing piezoelectric lithotripter, both in design and efficiency, in order to have more efficient treatment while also being less costly. First, a study of the current state of lithotripsy was made, followed by experiments on commercial and experimental lithotripters in order to define properly the different parameters to be worked on. From this, it was decided to optimize the current piezoelectric elements in the lithotripter to obtain a more efficient treatment. Then, a lithotripter using optimized lens focused piezoelectric transducers set in confocal setups was designed and manufactured. Its acoustic characterization, effect on cavitation and model stone fragmentation efficiency were evaluated. The resulting lithotripter showed performances equivalent to existing commercial lithotripter, while allowing more flexible treatment than traditional lithotripter.
Time: 14H
Place: Conference Room, LabTAU, 151 Cours Albert Thomas, 69003 LYON