CellSonic Medical

What’s best, focused or radial shockwaves?

It depends what you want to cure. Shockwaves were first used almost forty years ago to break kidney stones by aiming focussed sound (a sudden sound is called a shockwave) into the kidney, a depth of about 140 mm. The stone then fractured. The early machines cost over a million pounds (say, two million dollars). This non-invasive surgery was still cost effective by saving the cost of open surgery and a long period of recovery in hospital. Nevertheless, there was a market for a cheaper way to break the stone without open surgery and a solution was found using a pneumatic device that made a shockwave by a piston hitting a probe which was inserted into the kidney. Although it was invasive, there was no cutting other than sometimes a hole was drilled from the back to the kidney. These pneumatic devices were called radial shockwave machines because the shockwave radiated out from the point of contact.

New uses for shockwaves were discovered. Focussed waves healed broken bone, calcifications such as heel spur and tennis elbow were fragmented and released. The radial machines tried to copy the focussed machines by having a mushroom head instead of a probe and applying the radial shock to the skin hoping that the shockwave would penetrate into the body like a focussed wave. Unfortunately it never did but these machines were still bought because the salesman said they generated shockwaves, which they did but not focussed, and they were very much cheaper than the focussed shockwave lithotripters.

The CellSonic lithotripter with its variable power, focussed shockwaves is now very much cheaper than the piston action radial machines from other companies and our radial machines, the SynchroWave and LithoSplits, are cheaper than other companies’ radial machines.

If your objective is not a kidney stone and is inside the body then you should use a focussed shockwave. The parabola heads with the CellSonic machine cover a range of focus from 5 mm up to infinity.

If you are a urologist wanting to break a kidney stone then our LithoSplit is your best tool. In about 30 hits the stone will break.

If you are a physiotherapist needing to stimulate muscle recovery and nerve response then use the SynchroWave with its shockwaves synchronised to the electrotherapy.

CellSonic makes both types of machine so we are not prejudiced on the capabilities of focussed versus radial shockwaves.

How can you offer a 10 year warranty?

The ten year warranty is on the CellSonic machine. All our other machines have a one year warranty. The electronics in the CellSonic can reasonably be expected to last ten years. Similar machines of this age are still running well. There are no moving parts.

The cost of the machine is kept deliberately low to make it affordable. At that price it is not a viable product so we admit to wanting to sell you the replacement heads. Only then do we have an opportunity to make a profit. If the machine fails, we will replace it so that we retain you as a customer.

This also tells you that we will support you in your business. If you buy a machine and do not use it, you loose and so do we. Think of it this way, our interest is the same as yours, selling treatments. We are not just a supplier; we are you partner.

Is the CellSonic machine noisy?

No. It does its job by making a bang which is focused into the body so there has to be a sound. That sound is controlled by the parabola to send it into the body, not to spread around the room. The acoustics of the room have an important effect. Hospitals usually have tiled floors and hard furnishings. A common feature of a hospital is the echo as you walk down a corridor. It is the perfect environment in which sound can travel.

If the sound of the lithotripter concerns you, hang some curtains, have mats on the floor and close the door. You can wear ear muffs if you want.

There is no such thing as a quiet lithotripter. If you find one that is quiet, it is probably useless. One thousand shocks is the usual treatment for such as heel spur. At four shocks a second, it takes less than five minutes. The rest of the time you are quietly applying gel, then wiping it off and bringing in the next patient.

Why are all your machines so cheap?

Our machines cost less than other companies because they are either charging you too much or they are not as efficient as we are.

Our overheads are minimal. We communicate totally by email. Our premises are basic. Sales are delegated fully to distributors and they too run a tight ship. One of the big differences between CellSonic Ltd and other companies is we do not borrow, do not use other people’s money and have not added into our costs the cost of developing the machines. All development was paid for as we went along.

The result is range of products at prices low enough to sell to a mass market. Globally, the biggest market is wound healing. There are millions of sufferers who will benefit from the CellSonic machine because it can now be bought by the smallest hospital and even run from a generator in the back of a 4x4 touring the villages to attend patients.

We have not copied any other machines. The electronics are our own invention and the objective was to minimize cost so that we can enter new markets.