Use of Extracorporeal Physical Vibration Lithecbole Through Greater Sciatic Foramen for Treatment of Distal Ureteral...

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of performing extracorporeal physical vibrational lithecbole (EPVL) through greater sciatic foramen (GSF) for distal ureteral calculi (DUC) treatment. All patients with a diagnosis of DUC (6-10 mm in diameter) were enrolled in this study from October 2018 to May 2020. Patients were randomly divided into three groups receiving EPVL through GSF (Group A, n = 58), or abdominal (Group B, n = 60), or combined with oral use of tamsulosin at 0.4 mg daily (Group C, n = 63). There was no significant difference observed in terms of demographic characteristics or size of stones among the three groups (p > 0.05). Compared with the Groups B and C, patients of the Group A displayed a significantly higher score of comfort, with a significantly decreased number of renal colic attacks or analgesics required (p < 0.01). The stone-free rate also significantly increased after 1 and 2 weeks of treatment (p < 0.01), despite such a significant difference among these groups vanishing after 4 weeks of treatment. EPVL in the prone position uses the GSF as the path and is a safe and effective approach to treat the distal ureteral calculi.