Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (eswl) system and method using in-situ sensing of system and device data and therapeutic/system/device level control

Abstract

The present invention provides enhanced ESWL efficacy for therapeutic and operational outcomes. Device behavior and performance data is measured in-situ and analyzed for both intra-procedure and inter-procedure breadth of regard such that both therapy optimization and maintenance optimization engines are provided an accurate and current assessment of ESWL system and device state and performance. This feedback and control provides the ability to compensate in real time for the current patient therapy and offline for future patient therapy for machine/therapy idiosyncrasies and realize continuous calibration of system/devices to the performance required for maximum ESWL patient efficacy.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A system for enhancing efficacy for therapeutic or operational outcomes of an extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) patient therapy, comprising:
 a plurality of hardware devices configured to produce a focused acoustic shockwave coincident with a patient's kidney stone;   one or more sensors embedded in-situ with said hardware devices, said sensors configured to sense data including operating parameters and outputs of a plurality of the hardware devices;   a system sensor data acquisition and storage assembly configured to capture data from the sensors during operation of the ESWL system to control the plurality of hardware devices to produce the focused acoustic shockwave; and   a therapy optimization engine to determine a positive ESWL therapy outcome by correlating a plurality of input measurements; wherein the input measurements each comprise a statistically significant data set.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the hardware devices comprise an electrical power source configured to charge an energy storage element to provide current to drive an electronically controlled current switch thatsupplies a high current pulse to an acoustic transducer to originate an acoustic wave for a focusing element, which in turn generates the focused acoustic shockwave, and a water circulation system configured to circulate and degas water to assure acoustic propagation and focus. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more sensors includes a voltage probe to measure adischarge waveform from the energy storage element for the shockwave, a current probe configured to measure a switch current passing from the switch into the acoustic transducer, one or more pressure sensors proximate to the focusing element to measure a pressure gradient produced by the shockwave and a gas sensor in the water circulation path to measure the gas content of the water. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , further comprising one or more computer processors configured to process the discharge waveform, the switch current and the pressure gradient to estimate a pressure applied to the patient kidney stone and to process the gas content of the water to estimate a focus of the acoustic shockwave to provide feedback to control the ESWL system. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the hardware devices comprise an electrical power source configured to charge an energy storage element to provide current to drive a thyratron tube that supplies a high current pulse to an acoustic transducer to originate an acoustic wave inside a focusing element, which in tum generates the focused acoustic shockwave, and an adjustable external AC power supply or an adjustable internal thyratron voltage transformer. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more sensors include a thyratron heater monitor to measure a thyratron heater voltage and current. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , further comprising one or more computer processors configured to process the data to compare the estimated thyratron heater voltage and current to specified values and adjust the external AC power supply or internal thyratron voltage transformer to control the thyratron heatervoltage and current to the specified values to provide feedback to control the ESWL system. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the hardware devices comprise an electrical power source configured to charge an energy storage element to provide current to drive a thyratron tube that supplies a high current pulse to an acoustic transducer to originate an acoustic wave for a focusing element, which in turn generates the focused acoustic shockwave. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more sensors include a light detector to measured light emitted from the energized thyratron tube charge plasma, 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising one or more computer processors configured to process the measured light to estimate a present state and statistical behavior of the thyratron tube concerning intensity and spectral content, and assess the thyratron tube's health to adjust a maintenance schedule or a patient therapy to provide feedback to control the ESWL system. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the plurality of input measurements include patient characteristics, procedural dependencies, equipment dependencies, technician dependencies, doctor dependencies, and parameters of the kidney stone. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the statistically significant data set includes data from a plurality of sources within an input measurement. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the therapy optimization engine to use regression on the plurality of input measurements to determine the positive ESWL therapy outcome. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the therapy optimization engine to use machine learning techniques on the plurality of input measurements to determine the positive ESWL therapy outcome. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the therapy optimization engine to relate the plurality of input measurements to the positive ESWL therapy outcome using tensor operations given as D=f(T,I); where D is the positive ESWL therapy outcome, T is a tensor operator, and I includes the plurality of input measurements.