Visibly Transparent, Near-Infrared Absorbing Nanofluids Enable High-Efficiency and Safe Laser Lithotripsy
Fan, Q.; Chen, J.; Mishra, A.; Bock, M.; Stewart, A.; Cai, C.; Dominguez, J.; Liu, J.; Chen, Y.; Wu, R.; Chen, T.-H.; Huang, J.; Payne, C.; Lipkin, M.; Zhong, P.; Hsu, P.-C.
Show abstract
Laser lithotripsy (LL) is the gold standard for urinary stone management yet maximizing ablation efficiency while maintaining procedural safety remains clinically challenging. Here, we present a visibly transparent, near-infrared (NIR)-absorbing ITO@SiO2 nanofluid irrigation strategy that significantly enhances LL efficiency without compromising endoscopic visibility. By spectrally matching the absorption profile of ITO@SiO2 with the clinical Holmium:YAG laser wavelength, ablation efficiency improved by >200% in the bench-top spot treatments and >100% in the hydrogel kidney model. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the enhanced optical absorption of the nanofluid modifies bubble dynamics and synergistically amplifies photothermal/microexplosion effects and cavitation damage. Importantly, both in-vitro hydrogel and in-vivo porcine kidney models demonstrated a substantial thermal safety margin (maximum temperatures <35 {degrees}C) and excellent acute biocompatibility, with no evidence of thermal tissue injury. Integrating seamlessly into established clinical workflows without requiring stone pretreatment, this strategy offers a highly translatable, safe, and efficient platform for next-generation endoscopic lithotripsy.
Matching journals
The top 5 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.