Comparison of current guidelines on medical management of stone disease

The objective of this study isto present the content of existing Guidelines on medical management of urinary stone disease.

A search for current Guidelines from national and international urological Associations was performed in Societe International d'Urologie and American Urological Association websites, along with a search in Pubmed/MEDLINE until 30/06/2020. Two authors performed an independent search and data extraction regarding medical management of acute renal colic, medical expulsive treatment, dietary modifications and pharmaceutical interventions for prevention of stone disease recurrence. Quality of Guidelines was assessed by the two reviewers using the AGREE II instrument.

Literature search revealed 82 Associations, while eight of them provide recommendations/Guidelines on medical management of stone disease. Non-steroidalanti-inflammatory drugs or paracetamol are the most common 1st line treatment proposed for acute pain management, with opiates following next. Use of a-blockers is also indicated by most Guidelines for facilitating expulsion of distal ureteral stones 5-10 mm, after shockwave or laser lithotripsy or for alleviating stent-related symptoms. Adequate fluid in take, normal dietary calcium consumption and sodium restriction with varying daily limits, are universal dietary modifications from urological Associations on prevention of stone disease. Thiazidesand alkaline citrates are proposed usually for calciumoxalate stone formers with differences in grading of the recommendations, while urinary alkalization with allopurinol or febuxostat as a second line treatment is acommon treatment algorithm for urate stones, but with differences in target urine pH. European and American Urological Association Guidelines, along with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendations were the most highly rated based on AGREE II.

Despite methodological heterogeneity and subjective rating of recommendations, an acceptable degree of consensus was noted on Guidelines regarding medical management of stone disease.