Junjie received the MEDx Colloquium grant

Drs. Junjie Yao, Pei Zhong and Glenn Preminger received a MEDx grant in support of the colloqium 'Translate Photoacoustic Imaging to Guide Shockwave Lithotripsy of Kidney Stones”.

The proposed colloquium aims to assemble a multidisciplinary group of Duke investigators to initiate the collaborative development of a novel imaging platform for real-time monitoring of renal vascular damage during shockwave lithotripsy (SWL).

Kidney stone disease is a major health problem. SWL is the first-line therapy for the management of most kidney and upper urinary stones. However, modern lithotripters have high propensity in causing vascular injuries in the treated kidneys, and currently, tissue injury during SWL cannot be monitored by fluoroscopy or ultrasound imaging. Therefore, there is a pressing need and strong clinical incentive to develop novel imaging modalities that are compatible with contemporary lithotripters, for real-time assessment of vascular injury during SWL. photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is uniquely matched to address this unmet clinical need, with its intrinsic high sensitivity to bleeding and high spatial-temporal resolutions. This proposed colloquium convokes interdisciplinary expertise in biomedical imaging, shockwave physics and engineering, and urologic surgery, echoing the very purpose of the MEDx colloquium to combine elements from engineering and medicine to solve a pressing clinical problem. If successful, the proposed technology has the potential to fundamentally change the clinical practice of urologists in administrating SWL, by providing a much-needed real-time feedback about the conditions of renal tissue to minimize adverse injury.