Review: medical therapy with calcium channel blockers or alpha blockers helps patients to pass urinary stones.

Study selection and assessment: randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated calcium channel blockers or a blockers as the main treatment for ureteral stone disease (mean size 3.9–7.8 mm) and had >1 week follow up (range 15–48 d). Studies were excluded if medical therapy was an adjunct to surgery. 9 RCTs (n = 693, mean age range 34–47 y, 25% to 60% women) met the selection criteria. In 3 RCTs, corticosteroids were given to the treatment groups with the calcium channel blocker nifedipine. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were given to both treatment and control groups in 7 RCTs. RCTs were pooled using a fixed effects model. Quality assessment of the studies included method of randomisation, concealment of allocation, blinding, loss to follow up, and intention to treat analysis.