The Effect Of Ureteral Stenting Before Flexible Ureteroscopic Lithotripsy: A Meta-analysis

Purpose:We evaluated the effect of ureteral stent placement before flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy.Materials and Methods:A systematic search of Pub Med,Cochrane Library,WANFANG Database,VIP-database,CNKI and conference proceedings was performed to identify all randomized controlled trials and retrospective studies.All relevant studies were on the effect of ureteral stenting before flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy.The outcomes included stone-free rate,mean operative time,success rate of ureteral access sheath placement and postoperative complications.Review Manager software 5.3(Rev Man 5.3)was used to complete the meta statistical analysis.Results : A total of 7 trials,which contained 4 in Chinese,3 in English,were enrolled for analysis and involved 1176 patients.Of these patients 388 were in the experimental group(nonstented group)and 788 in the control group(stented group).Meta-analysis showed that: significant differences between two groups were found in stone-free rate.There were not statistically significant differences in mean operative time between two groups.The success rate of ureteral access sheath placement was significantly higher in the control group than in the experimental group.In the respect of postoperative complications,two groups had significant differences.Conclusions : Ureteral stenting before flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy can improve the stone-free rate,increase the success rate of ureteral access sheath placement and reduce the postoperative complications.But there were not statistically significant difference in mean operative time between two groups.Preoperative ureteral stenting has a good help for flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy,especially for ureteral stenosis in patients.