Disintegration of urinary calculi by laser beam: drilling experiment in extracted urinary stones

Disintegration of urinary calculi was attempted by the use of laser beam. As a first step, drilling of extracted urinary stones was attempted using a continuous wave CO2 laser and a pulse ruby laser. Stones were drilled easily by either laser beam. The power around 10 W of continuous CO2 laser beam was sufficient to drill through the stone.