Shockwave simulation in lithotripsy and wave performance optimization

Lithotripsy systems are commonly used to break kidney stones into fragments. Nowadays these systems are also used in orthopedic operations. There are several ongoing investigational studies on lithotripsy systems in the treatments of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Because of these new application areas we need novel lithotripter designs for different kinds of treatment strategies. The best way to reduce design time and cost is to create a computational model of the lithotripsy system.In this study we used the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method while constructing the computational model of the lithotripsy system. While implementing the model, we defined most of the physical system parameters as an input and/or as a variable in the simulations. This would give the designer flexibility while testing the effect of new parameters. We tested several realistic parameters used in the simulations and compared the results with the expected outcomes and optimized our system accordingly. In addition, we also compared the results of the computer simulations with an experimental work to improve the shockwave performance of lithotripsy system. Finally, we studied the effects of changing the input parameters like shockwave source, elipsoid size, and environment conditions. In conclusion, to reduce design costs in various medical applications that use shockwave principle this computer-based simulation platform may be suitable.