Futurology

As a fellow Kidney Stone Alumni, I approve of this treatment. I got the unfortunate opportunity to discover I'm mostly immune to Morphine during this event. I learned this while in the fetal position on the floor of a small room off the ER at the local Hospital.

Fun times... This was when I was 26, and now at double that age, I still 'perk up' if i get a cramp in my Kidney. That doesn't happen very often, but I do know exactly where my kidney is, and if I get a pain there I quickly start thinking... Oh no, please no!

Wow, I hadn't considered the risk of something like a kidney stone happening in space, where there's zero chance of medical help. That'd be agonizing.

Could have used this last month, myself. Fuckers are painful.

This article is very lax on details. Using sound to break up kidney stones has been around for a while, so it's unclear what this "new" technology entails.

As someone who produces kidney stones chronically. Hell yeah

That's interesting, I've actually had lithotripsy before, something like 14 years ago. Not sure how it differs from what the article is talking about, but they did anesthetize me prior to the procedure. It might have just been a precaution at the time since I was only out for about a half hour. Overall, it was a painless experience to be rid of that stone. Shame I couldn't have gotten rid of any other stones like that. They are truly a miserable experience, but they did encourage me to fix my diet to reduce my risk.

Since the link provided so little info, i did a search and UW has a page on the procedure with some more info

Fantastic news if it works

burst wave lithotripsy uses an ultrasound wand and soundwaves to break apart the kidney stone.

Ultrasonic propulsion is then used to move the stone fragments out, potentially giving patients relief in 10 minutes or less.

Monster Drinkers rejoice.