Table 1.

Summary of articles assessing use of ureteric stents on extraction strings [5, 12–17, 21]

Author	Study type	Journal	Year	Period of review	Country	No. of patients	M:F	Mean age	Comparator	Strings:no strings
Pryor	Prospective cohort	J Urol	1991	–	USA	73	45:28	–	Pain score at removal, urinary symptoms	44:29
								(23–72)
Bockholt	Retrospective cohort	BJU Int	2012	June 2009 –June 2010	USA	181	86:95	45.5	Procedure related events (PREs)	43:138
York	Prospective questionnaire	J Urol	2013	May –Dec 2011	New Zealand	50	39:11	51 (21–77)	Pain score, anxiety, complication rate	50:0
Kuehaus	Prospective cohort	J Urol	2013	Nov 2011–May 2012	Austria and Germany	124	86:38	47 (20–79)	Pain score at removal	13a:111
Barnes	Prospective RCT	BJU Int	2014	Oct 2011–May 2013	USA	68a	26:42	49	USSQ, pain score, adverse events	33:38
Althaus	Retrospective notes review	J Urol	2015	–	USA	512	57:41	54	Dislodgement rates	98:414
Loh-Doyle	Prospective Web-based questionnaire	J Endourol	2015	May 2013–Dec 2013	USA	571	183:388	–	Pain score, removal preferences	223:348
Kim	Prospective RCT	BMC Urology	2015	July 2012–Nov 2014	Korea	114	78:36	50	USSQ, VAS, patient preference	58:56
Total						1279	600:679			483:796

RCT randomised controlled trial, PPRE post-procedure related events, USSQ ureteric stent symptom questionnaire, VAS visual analogue scale

^aUnderpowered