Efficacy of Phloroglucinol Tamsulosin Combination Therapy for Medical Expulsion of Lower Ureteral Calculi and Influence on Patients’ Cys-C Level

Abstract

Objective: Phloroglucinol is a myotropic, non-atropine and non-papaverine smooth muscle antispasmodic which directly acts on the smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal tract and the urogenital tract with no anticholinergic effect, no symptoms like xerostomia, visual impairment, dysuria, hypotension, increased heart rate, and arrhythmia etc. To investigate the efficacy of phloroglucinol tamsulosin combination therapy for medical expulsion of lower ureteral calculi and influence on patients’ Cys-C level. Methods: Equally randomized 136 patients with lower ureteral calculi in our hospital into mono therapy group (phloroglucinol alone) and combination therapy group (additional tamsulosin was advised). The expulsion rate, expulsion time, stone diameter and levels of IL-10, CRP, NGAL, Cys-C, KIM-1 were compared between two groups, also with the effectiveness and the rate of adverse reactions. Results: The combination therapy group showed higher expulsion rate (P<0.05) and shorter expulsion time (P<0.05) than that of the mono therapy group and the stone diameter was slightly larger as well (P<0.05). Also, patients under combination treatment had elevated IL-10, CRP, NGAL, Cys-C and KIM-1 levels and a better overall response rate (P<0.05) while it was associated with a slightly higher rate of adverse reactions (P>0.05). Conclusions: Phloroglucinol tamsulosin combination therapy had clear advantages on medical expulsion of lower ureteral calculi in respect of higher expulsion rate and elevated IL-10, CRP, NGAL, Cys-C and KIM-1 levels with larger stone diameter in a shorter time.