[Assessment of radiopaque kidney stone treatment: Combination of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and Fagolitos Plus®. Preliminary case control description.]

INTRODUCTION: The nutritional supplement called Fagolitos plus® contains hydroxycitric acid as main component, in addition to zinc, magnesium, vitamin A and vitamin B6. It is necessary to study new molecules as chemolytic treatment in calcium lithiasis or that facilitate its fragmentation with the help of other instrumental treatments.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the combined treatment of Fagolitos plus® and extracorporeal lithotripsy in the fragmentation of the lithiasis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective case-control study includes 88 patients with lithiasis. Group 1: Treated with 1 session of extracorporeal lithotripsy and Fagoliths plus®. Group 2: Treated with 1 session of extracorporeal lithotripsy. The variables analyzed were: Age, sex, body mass index, maximum diameter of the stone, area of the stone, hounsfield units of the stone measured by axial tomography, location of the stone, result after 1 session of extracorporeal wave lithotripsy shock [complete fragmentation, partial fragmentation (presence of a fragment greater than 5 mm) and absence of fragmentation (same size of the lithiasis)], adverse effects that occurred after taking Fagolitos plus®, days of treatment with Fagolitos plus® and energy shock wave applied to lithiasis. Results were analyzed with SPSS 20.0, p≤0.05.

RESULTS: The mean age of the patients included in the study is 53.81 ± 12.62 years in group 1 compared to 56.53 ± 12.37 years in group 2, p=0.31. According to the distribution by sex, there were no statistically significant differences (p=0.5), including 24 men and 24 women in group 1 and 23 men and 17 women in group 2. The mean of body mass index of the patients in group 1 was 28.39 ± 2.27 kg/m2 in group 1 versus 28.39 ± 3.03 kg/m2 in group 2, p=0.9. The maximum diameter of the stone was 11.5 ± 3.91 mm in group 1 compared to 13.15 ± 5.49 mm in group 2, p=0.1. The area of the lithiasis measured by tomography was 104.74 ± 70.56 mm2 in group 1 compared to 141.91 ± 80.95 mm2 in group 2, p=0.3. The Hounsfield units measured by tomography of the lithiasis in group 1 was 1061.98 ± 213.68 compared to 1143.15 ± 172.24 in group 2, p=0.06. Relation to fragmentation, complete fragmentation was observed in 66.7% of group 1 patients, compared to 41% of group 2 patients (p=0.02), between 20-30 days after the first session of Extracorporeal Lithotripsy evaluated by means of a simple X-ray of the Abdomen.

CONCLUSIONS: The administration of Fagolitos plus® concomitant to extracorporeal lithotripsy could increase its effectiveness in lithiasis fragmentation, requiring clinical trials and prospective studies to confirm these findings.