Important military role for medical expulsion therapy of urolithiasis.

Kidney stones are a major problem affecting military personnel and may lead to decreases in individual and unit readiness. Various medications, including steroids, calcium channel blockers, and alpha-adrenergic antagonists have been shown to aid in the spontaneous passage of ureteral calculi. Several recent randomized clinical trials have shown that selective alpha blockers improve stone passage rates. Although medical expulsion therapy has been the subject of a number of urologic investigations, to date there has been very little written about the acute medical management of urinary stones in the emergency medicine and primary care literature. Medical management of ureteral stones may offer forward-deployed forces a useful adjunct for the management of ureterolithiasis thereby greatly reducing the need for potentially hazardous evacuations out of theater.