Electro-acupuncture improves kidney stone clearance with lithotripsy

Electro-acupuncture improves kidney stone clearance with lithotripsy

Combining electro-acupuncture (EA) with extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is a safe and effective approach for improving stone clearance and expediting stone expulsion in patients with ureteral calculi, reports a Chinese research team. A total of 207 patients with ureteral calculi were randomly assigned to either an experimental group receiving EA plus ESWL, or a control group receiving ESWL alone. The results showed significantly higher stone-clearance rates in the experimental group compared with the control group at one week (59.1% vs. 37%), two weeks (86.4% vs. 59.3%) and four weeks (90.9% vs. 77.8%) after the procedure. Additionally, patients in the EA plus ESWL group experienced a significantly shorter time to first stone expulsion (1.29 ± 1.55 days vs. 2.45 ± 3.11 days). No difference in the incidence of major complications was found between the two groups (15.9 vs. 17.6%). (Electroacupuncture combined with extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is beneficial for the expulsion of ureteral calculi: a prospective randomized trial. World J Urol. 2024 Sep 9;42(1):512).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39249654/