The contemporary management of ureteric stones is reviewed and evidence based recommendations about treatment are made.
Stones measuring less than 4mm in diameter have a high chance of spontaneous passage and the main debate for optimum treatment of larger stones centres around the choice of shock wave lithotripsy or endoscopic management combined with laser fragmentation.
Treatment recommendations should be based on patient preference, published evidence, local audit (surgeon expertise and availability of equipment) and cost.
Artificial Neural Networks could become a useful tool for prediction of treatment outcome for ureteric stones, and further research is needed to clarify this potential.
ESWL is less effective than ureteroscopy but it may prevent the need for more invasive treatment in a substantial proportion of patients. It should only be considered as initial treatment in patients with stones less than 10mm in size. The routine use of stents should be avoided as both fragmentation and stone free rates are noticeably lower. For larger stones, initial laser ureteroscopy serves better both for proximal or distal calculi and is more cost-efficient. Provided that no contraindications for general anaesthesia exist, laser ureterolithotripsy should be regarded as an excellent first line treatment modality for ureteric stone especially in greater stone burden.
In the best hands, the outcome for endoscopic management of ureteric stone in all sites is better than ESWL and is cheaper, although equipment, expertise and experience are all required to achieve this superior outcome.