Ultrasonic Studies on Kidney Stone Phantom

Kidney stones are solid mass of tiny crystals found in the inner lining of the kidneys. Due to the presence of calcium, magnesium ammonium phosphates, urates, cystine and proteins the natural kidney stones vary in their compositions. Due to this difference in the composition, phantoms were prepared using a material called "BegoStone" which has the composition of alpha calcium sulphate hemihydrates. Depending on the ratio of BegoStone and water, five types of phantoms such as oxalate, cystine, Magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate/Carbonate apatite, calcium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate and uric acid were prepared. To determine the ultrasonic velocity parameters, "Digital Ultrasonic Pulse Echo Velocity Meter" was used. The properties like transverse & longitudinal wave velocity measurements and density measurements were studied. Based on these measurements some of the other properties like bulk, shear, Young's modules and Poisson's ratio of the stone phantom were also calculated.