SONOMOTION, INC.

Break Wave lithotripsy to fragment large kidney stones

SONOMOTION, INC. is active in the national institute of diabetes and digestive and kidney diseases space based in EMERALD HILLS, CA, founded in 2014.

Profile

SUMMARY
Kidney stone surgeries carry 5-20% morbidity; that is between 1-in-5 and 1-in-20 patients return
for moderate or severe adverse events requiring further intervention. Our noninvasive,
nonsurgical treatment for stones – burst wave lithotripsy (BWL) – has been successfully tested
with ≤10 mm stones, with no moderate or serious adverse events. Our proposal is to expand our
technology to fragment larger stones in the 10-20 mm range, and preclinically, to test
effectiveness and safety. BWL (marketed as Break Wave therapy) transmits a long, narrowband
ultrasound tone burst to break the stones as opposed to shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) that sends
a short, broadband impulse. In collaboration with Caltech on a previous SBIR grant, we used
linear elastic numerical modeling to show that a frequency of 200 ± 50 kHz will generate the
highest internal stress to fragment 10-20 mm stones, while higher frequency is more effective for
smaller stones. The first challenge is that transducer size tends to scale inversely with frequency,
making a traditional 200-kHz transducer too large. To develop a low-frequency (~200 kHz),
high-pressure (> 6 MPa) transducer with a compact (< 90 mm diameter) form factor, we will
investigate several new technologies, including a porous ceramic element encased in oil, multi-
layer stacked transducer designs, and 1-3 composites. The second challenge is that 2

Its activity falls under national institute of diabetes and digestive and kidney diseases; the profile below is assembled from public directory data.

The business is associated with EMERALD HILLS, CA.

Directory data places it at the SBIR/STTR stage.

Recorded headcount: 1-10 employees.

Public records show total funding of about $96K.

Website: sonomotion.com