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Related Concept Videos

Urinary Tract Calculi VI: Surgical Management01:25

Urinary Tract Calculi VI: Surgical Management

37
Procedures for Kidney StonesMedical intervention is necessary when kidney stones or renal calculi are too large to pass spontaneously (typically greater than 5 millimeters) when stones are accompanied by symptomatic infection (such as fever or pyelonephritis), when they impair kidney function, or when they cause persistent symptoms like severe pain, nausea, or urinary retention. Additionally, patients with only one kidney or those who cannot be treated with medical management also require...
37
Urinary Tract Calculi III: Medical Management01:30

Urinary Tract Calculi III: Medical Management

28
The diagnosis of renal calculi involves several imaging techniques, including non-contrast CT scans and ultrasound. These methods help visualize kidney stones, assess their size and location, and detect possible obstructions. Additionally, Measuring urine pH is useful for diagnosing specific stone types, such as struvite (alkaline pH) and uric acid stones (acidic pH). Cystine stones are primarily linked to cystinuria, a genetic condition. A urinalysis helps detect blood in the urine (hematuria)...
28

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Updated: Sep 17, 2025

Use of 3D Robotic Ultrasound for In Vivo Analysis of Mouse Kidneys
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Kidney Stone Dissolution By Tetherless, Enzyme-Loaded, Soft Magnetic Miniature Robots.

Afarin Khabbazian1, Lauren Kwong2, Aaron Lewis2

  • 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Canada.

Advanced Healthcare Materials
|July 1, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Flexible, magnetically steered robots carrying urease can navigate the urinary tract to dissolve kidney stones. This wireless, targeted approach offers a less invasive treatment for kidney stones, potentially avoiding surgery.

Keywords:
enzymatickidney stonesmagneticmicrorobotsrenal stonessoft robots

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Area of Science:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Nanotechnology
  • Urology

Background:

  • Kidney stones affect 12% of the population, with high recurrence rates.
  • Current treatments involve prolonged drug administration or repetitive surgeries, causing patient burden.
  • A need exists for targeted, less invasive treatments with reduced side effects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a wireless drug delivery strategy for kidney stone dissolution.
  • To create magnetically steered, enzymatically active robots for targeted treatment.
  • To assess the efficacy of urease-embedded robots in dissolving kidney stones in a urinary tract model.

Main Methods:

  • Millimeter-sized, gelatin-based robots with embedded micromagnets and urease were fabricated.
  • Robots were navigated wirelessly using magnetic steering through a 3D printed human urinary tract model.
  • Urease activity was utilized to locally increase urinary pH and dissolve stones.
  • Clinical ultrasound was used for real-time robot localization.

Main Results:

  • Demonstrated successful navigation of robots within the urinary tract model.
  • Achieved enhanced dissolution of kidney stones via localized urease action.
  • Confirmed real-time robot tracking using clinical ultrasound.

Conclusions:

  • Proposed a novel, less invasive strategy for treating kidney stones.
  • Magnetically steered, urease-active robots offer targeted drug delivery at the disease site.
  • This technology holds potential to circumvent surgery for uric acid kidney stones.