What they found was on small kidney stones tamsulosin had minimal effect, putting its results on par with the placebo. But tamsulosin was effective at breaking down larger kidney stones making them easier to pass.
“The news on small kidney stones isn’t positive, but tamsulosin appears to offer benefit to those unlucky people whose kidney stones are really big,” said lead study author, Jeremy Furyk.
Over the course of 28 days, the passage of small kidney stones was effective in 87 percent of patients given tamsulosin and 81.9 percent of those on a placebo. But when kidney stones were between five to 10 millimeters, successful passage while on tamsulosin was 83.3 percent compared to the 61 percent who took a placebo.
Researchers believe that tamsulosin may be an effective form of a treatment among those with larger kidney stones.
The findings were published in Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Sources:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-07/acoe-bub072115.php