Abstract
The objective of this study was to estimate the treatment effect of Pneumatic Lithotripsy (PL) versus holmium: YAG laser lithotripsy (LL) in the treatment of distal ureteric calculi. A bibliographic search covering the period from 1990 to April 2012 was conducted using search engines such as MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane library. Data were extracted and analyzed with RevMan5.1 software. A total of 47 studies were scant, and 4 independent studies were finally recruited. Holmium: YAG LL conveyed significant benefits compared with PL in terms of early stone-free rate [odds ratio (OR)=4.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.14, 17.16), p=0.03], delayed stone-free rate [OR=4.42, 95%CI (1.58, 12.37), p=0.005], mean operative time [WMD=−16.86, 95%CI (−21.33, −12.39), p<0.00001], retaining double-J catheter rate [OR=0.44, 95%CI (0.25, 0.78), p=0.004], and stone migration incidence [OR=0.26, 95%CI (0.11, 0.62), p=0.003], but not yet in the postoperative hematuria rate and the ureteral perforation rate according to this meta-analysis. Precise estimates on larger sample size and trials of high quality may provide more uncovered outcomes in the future.
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