TREATMENT WITH TAMSULOSIN IN PATIENTS WITH DISTAL URETERALCALCULI

Abstract

BACKGROUND Symptomatic ureteral calculi are one of the most important issues in urologist emergencyclinical settings. Spontaneous passage of distal ureteral calculi is usually achieved withgood hydration and spasmoanalgetic drugs. ?-blocker therapy may facilitate and accelerate the spontaneous passage of ureteral stones.Patients and In retrospective study we analyzed patients with renal colic admitted to our department inmethods 2006. All of them had clinical examination, urine and blood analysis, plain radiography(number, size and location of radiopaque calculi) and intravenous pyelography (kidneyfunction and morphology). All patients with distal ureteral calcus were treated withspasmoanalgetics and with or without ?-adrenergic antagonist tamsulosin. We analyzedeventual spontaneous passage of the calculi, additional procedures (splints, ureterorenoscopy, open procedures, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL)). We used Student’st-test for statistical analysis. RESULTS 48 from 72 patients had urinary calculus. 35 (73 %) of them had calculus in the distal partof ureter. 17 (49 %) of 35 patients with distal ureteral calculus were treated with tamsulosin and in all (100 %) spontaneous stone passage was observed. 18 (51 %) patients werenot treated with tamsulosin and spontaneous passage was observed in 18 (65 %) patients(p = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS Tamsulosin therapy promotes expulsion of ureteral stones