Investigations on the fluorescence of urinary stones: how to assist the MD (Conference Presentation)

Urinary stones harvested from patients were under in-vitro investigation. Fluorescence measurements were performed either by taking images under blue light excitation light as well as measuring excitation-emission-matrixes. Ho:YAG-laser assisted fragmentation was performed in an aquarium set-up to derived fragmentation/dusting rates. FTIR-spectroscopy was used to identify the composition of the stone. Blue light fluorescence excitation resulted in fluorescence emission in different spectral regions spectroscopically proven by EEM-measurement. A correlation with FTIR-spectroscopy is performed. Fragmentation experiments resulted in a dependency to the applied energy/pulse and repetition rate. Using photonic techniques urinary stones could be categorized by their composition. The impact of fluorescence guidance during endoscopic laser lithotripsy will be discussed.