Evaluation of efficacy and safety of a herbal formulation Cystone in the management of urolithiasis: Meta-analysis of 50 clinical studies

Systematic reviews form a potential method for overcoming the barriers faced by clinicians when trying to access and interpret evidence to help in their practice. Clinical trials give the evidence regarding efficacy/safety or otherwise about a treatment model or medication. These studies need to be looked at with a perspective of creating evidence-based healthcare. Meta-analysis is a process of combining study results that can be used to draw conclusions about therapeutic effectiveness or otherwise.The aim of the study is to carry out the meta-analysis of 50 clinical trials for identifying the efficacy and safety of Cystone in urolithiasis. In all, 50 clinical studies done at various centers between 1954 and 2004 have been taken into account, which involved 3037 patients (Cystone: 1837 and others: 1200 of either sex). From each study, the demographic data of patients on entry was tabulated. The duration of treatment has varied from 2 weeks to 2 years and in most of the studies, except in pediatric patients, Cystone was used in the dose of 2 tablets thrice daily. Parameters such as size of renal calculi, clearance of calculi with reference to location of calculi, symptomatic relief and urinary excretion of stone forming constituents were