Multichannel impedance monitoring for evaluation of alpha-adrenoblocker effect on the ureteral function in patients with stone disease

The study of distal ureter function was carried out on patients with stones in the upper urinary tract, who underwent ureteroscopy and lithotripsy procedures. The parameters of ureteral peristalsis such as peristalsis amplitude, peristalsis rate, ureteral wall tone, contractile wave duration, and its direction obtained by multichannel impedance ureterography were assessed and compared from two groups of patients. The group I patients received tamsulosin in addition to standard regimen, while the group II patients matched according to the stone size and location were managed without tamsulosin medical therapy. In comparison with group II, the group I patients demonstrated smaller average peristalsis amplitude (0.60±0.08 vs 0.81±0.06 Ohm), shorter contractions (7.1±0.3 vs 7.7±0.3 s), greater peristalsis rate (3.3±0.3 vs 2.8±0.2 per minute), and diminished ureteral tone (4.0±0.5 vs 4.7±0.2 Ohm). Incidence of the retrograde contractile waves was two-fold greater in the group II, while normal antegrade regular contractions were 30% more frequent in the group I. In addition, our results showed that the effect of tamsulosin on ureteral function was manifested in the patients with different stone size and location in the upper urinary tract, and it depended pronouncedly on individual ureteral tone and contractility parameters.