Developing Complete Ultrasonic Management of Kidney Stones for Spaceflight

Bone demineralization, dehydration, and stasis put astronauts at an increased risk of forming kidney stones in space. The incidence of kidney stones and the potential for a mission-critical event are expected to rise as expeditions become longer and immediate transport to Earth becomes more problematic. At the University of Washington, we are developing an ultrasound-based stone management system to detect stones with S-mode™ultrasound imaging, break stones with burst wave lithotripsy (BWL™), and reposition stones with ultrasonic propulsion (UP™) on Earth and in space. This review discusses the development and current state of these technologies, as well as integration on the flexible ultrasound system sponsored by NASA and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.