BLACKSBURG, VA. (WFXR) – Kidney stones are often described as one of the most painful medical conditions a person can experience.
For decades, one of the most common treatments has been shockwave lithotripsy, a noninvasive procedure that uses powerful sound waves to break apart stones. But according to Virginia Tech Research Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering Adam Maxwell, the procedure still comes with major drawbacks.“The patients have to receive general anesthesia. They have to go through this major procedure, and they don’t really know the outcomes of whether or not it was successful for many weeks after the fact,” said Maxwell.
Maxwell was the primary inventor of a new technology called ‘Burst Wave Lithotripsy’ and led many of the early scientific and preclinical studies that helped bring it to patients…