# Improving Mechanistic Understanding and Treatment Efficiency of Laser Lithotripsy

> **NIH NIH P20** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $309,470

## Abstract

OVERALL: SUMMARY ABSTRACT
Nephrolithiasis (or commonly known as urinary stone disease) is a benign but severely painful genitourinary
disease that is on the rise and is the second most costly urologic condition in the US at over $2 billion per year.
The treatment of nephrolithiasis is shifting away from shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) to intracorporeal laser
lithotripsy (LL) via ureteroscopy, but the foundational knowledge of laser-stone-tissue interaction and LL
technology has not advanced commensurably with its growing use in clinical care. At present, there is a pressing
need for a fundamental and comprehensive investigation of the existing LL technologies and the dissimilar
mechanisms of action associated with various modes of LL. Such an effort will be timely and crucial to optimize
LL for improved patient-oriented outcomes and long-term surgical management of stone disease. Therefore, the
overarching goal of this P20 application is to develop a Center for Urological Laser Technologies (CULT) at Duke
University that will synergistically combine the expertise in engineering and urology to better understand the
dissimilar laser technologies and techniques used clinically for stone management. This center will focus on a
Research Project. The center's team will consist of investigators with expertise in urology, biophotonics, heat
transfer, computational mechanics, and materials science to address the challenges faced in advancing laser
technologies to treat stone disease. The center's Research Project has two Specific Aims focusing on (1)
Characterizing comprehensively the optical, thermal, acoustic, and mechanical properties of kidney and artificial
stones of different compositions and investigate the dissimilar mechanisms of stone damage produced by
various modes of LL; and (2) Performing an in-depth analysis of laser-induced cavitation bubble dynamics in
correlation with stone retropulsion and treatment efficiency produced by different LL devices. The center's
Administrative Core will provide infrastructure required to manage the scientific oversight of CULT's Research
Project studies and oversee the organizational, budgeting, reporting, outreach, communications, and educational
goals of the CULT. CULT's EEP will provide a novel training experience in engineering design and
entrepreneurship to the next generation of bioengineers in close collaboration with clinicians interested in benign
genitourinary research. Synergies and knowledge created by CULT are expected to propel technological
innovation and development in LL systems forward, in collaboration with a leading LL manufacturer Dornier
MedTech and other medical device companies, benefitting millions of stone patients worldwide.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10019531
- **Project number:** 5P20DK123970-02
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** PEI ZHONG
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $309,470
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-18 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10019531

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10019531, Improving Mechanistic Understanding and Treatment Efficiency of Laser Lithotripsy (5P20DK123970-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10019531. Licensed CC0.

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