Context

Symptomatic ureteric stones are a common urological problem with an annual incidence of around 30/100 000 population in high-resource countries.1 Usually stones sized <6 mm pass spontaneously and are therefore managed conservatively. Recent European Association of Urology guidelines (August 2015) recommend the use of medical expulsion therapy (MET), in the form of α-blockers, to facilitate small stone passage.2 This guidance is primarily based on the findings of a meta-analysis in 2009 which assessed 47 clinical trials.3 Two classes of …