Literature search
An exhaustive literature search for various electronic databases such as PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Embase, CENTRAL and web of science was conducted by two study (GS & PK) authors independently. Literature search was conducted from time of inception of these databases till March 2020. Literature search was limited to English language only. Search string used for literature search was based on Patient, Intervention, Control and Outcome (PICO) guidelines. Following keywords and strategy were used:
Patient : Lower ureteric stone OR Lower ureteric calculi OR Distal ureteric stone OR Distal ureteric calculi.
Intervention: alfuzosin OR silodosin OR tamsulosin OR naftopidil OR alfa-blockers OR phosphodiesterase inhibitors OR tadalafil OR sildenafil OR nifedipine
Control : No treatment OR control OR placebo
Outcome: Stone expulsion
The search results thus obtained from various databases search was transferred on to a citation manager and duplicates were removed. Additional articles were also sought from various review articles on same topic and hand searches of references selected for full-text review was also undertaken. Search strategy used for PubMed has been provided in supplementary file (S1)