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Results of the meta-analysis are also reported as rate or mean difference; the number needed to treat was also calculated. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I-square test as well as by visual inspection of the Forest plots. When heterogeneity was present (I-square >25%) the data were analysed using the random-effects model, otherwise a fixed-effect was used. Publication bias was assessed with a funnel plot. For all analyses we used RevMan 5 [18]. Subgroup analysis was used to explore possible sources of heterogeneity (e.g. participants, interventions and study quality). Our search strategy identified 29 studies, of which 12 were potentially relevant trials (Fig.?1). Two papers were excluded from analysis as the essential methodological description could not be obtained, despite several attempts to contact the authors [19,20]. Of the remaining 10 trials, three were excluded on predefined exclusion criteria [21�C23]. In the first and second trial, http://www.selleckchem.com/products/AZD6244.html an ��-blocker was combined with a spasmolytic drug, and its use could bias the final results, so we therefore excluded these studies from further analysis [21,22]. The last study investigated only patients with steinstrasse after ESWL [23]. The population therefore differs significantly from that in other trials. The characteristics and results of the seven included studies are summarized in Table?1[24�C30]. The ��-blocker used in all seven trials was tamsulosin. The pooled results of the studies included 240 patients who were treated with tamsulosin and 244 controls. Only one trial was placebo-controlled [24]; the others compared tamsulosin with a control group in which only analgesics were allowed [25�C30]. http://www.selleck.cn/products/azd4547.html All patients were treated on http://www.selleckchem.com/products/MK-1775.html an outpatient basis. The mean age of patients in the tamsulosin group was 37�C57?years and the mean stone size was 8.5�C12?mm. In the controls, the mean age was 36�C53?years and stone size was 8.2�C13?mm. Five trials investigated patients with ureteric calculi [25�C28,30], one evaluated patients with renal calculi [29], whereas the seventh included both renal and ureteric calculi [24]. Six studies used a tamsulosin dose of 0.4?mg/day [24,25,27�C30] and one of 0.2?mg [26]. Treatment duration and follow-up was 14?days to 3?months. One article reported that treatment was continued until stones were cleared [26]. The clearance rate was the primary outcome of all studies, defined in five as stone-free status or presence of clinically insignificant asymptomatic residual fragments of