Impact of voltage and capacity on the electrical and acoustic output of intracorporeal electrohydraulic lithotripsy.

The electrical and acoustic output created by the spark discharge for electrohydraulic lithotripsy at the tip of a 3.3-F probe was evaluated. Spark generation was achieved by variable combinations of voltage and capacity. The effective electrical output was determined by means of a high-voltage probe, a current coil and a digital oscilloscope. Peak pressures, rise times and pulse width of the shock waves were recorded using a polyvinylidene difluoride needle hydrophone in 0.9% NaCl solution at a distance of 10 mm. The effective electrical output is lower than the calculated output, due to inductivities, capacities and resistances of the cables and plugs. The life of the probes is markedly shorter when a combination of high voltage and low capacity is used than with low voltage and high capacity corresponding to the same energy. The peak pressure and the slope of the shock front depend solely on the voltage, while the pulse width is correlated with the capacity. The pulse intensity integral of the shock wave is likely to be the best equivalent to the applied energy.