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)