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In patients with ureteral stones who are managed medically (i.e., without urologic intervention), how accurate are pain resolution and patient-reported visualization of a passed stone as indicators that the stone has truly passed? To find out, researchers studied 212 patients who presented to a Canadian emergency department with ureteral stones documented by computed tomography (mean stone size, 6.5 mm) and were managed medically. They were seen in a stone clinic an average of 18 days later; on follow-up imaging, stone passage was documented in 105 patients. Findings were as follows:
Of 129 patients who reported cessation of pain, 37% still had ureteral stones.
Of 72 patients who reportedly observed passage of their stone, 19% still had urete…