Background/Objectives: Uric acid stones are the second most common type of kidney stones worldwide. Despite being cost-effective and widely available, pharmacological management for these stones is less utilized compared to surgical approaches. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of the literature to assess the efficacy and shortcomings of oral dissolution therapy for uric acid stones. Methods: Embase, Scopus, PubMed, and Cochrane library databases were searched for English language studies on adults who were diagnosed with uric acid kidney stones and treated with oral dissolution therapy. Results: Twelve studies met our inclusion criteria. Potassium citrate was the primary agent used for dissolution in 10 of the studies and demonstrated a 50% or higher success rate for complete dissolution of uric acid stones. Treatment time for successful dissolution varied, with an average of 3 months minimum and an average of 2.78 years maximum. Overall, 11 of the studies recommended that oral dissolution therapy should be used for either treatment or prevention of uric acid stones. Conclusions: The available evidence demonstrates benefit of oral dissolution therapy for patients with uric acid stones. However, future rigorous studies are required to determine the optimal treatment regimen.

(1) Background: Indwelling ureteral stents are commonly used urological devices to maintain ureteral patency, yet they have been associated with complications such as infections. Some studies have shown that bacteria adhere to and create an antimicrobial-resistant biofilm on stents. One factor that may impact biofilm formation is the original condition informing stent placement, such as kidney stones and renal allografts. Both kidney stones and renal allografts are independently associated with infection, yet the differential stent microbiomes of these populations remain poorly characterized. Our objective was to characterize these microbiomes in order to inform urological health practice and help prevent ureteral stent-associated infections. (2) Methods: Stents were collected from kidney stone and renal transplant recipients undergoing routine cystoscopic stent removal. Microbial DNA was extracted from stents and analyzed using 16S Next Generation Sequencing. Descriptive statistics, alpha diversity, and beta diversity methods were used for statistical analysis. (3) Results: The microbiome of ureteral stents in kidney stone and transplant patients is composed of unique species, each with different biofilm-forming abilities. (4) Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that the microbiome of stents differs based on preceding condition. It is important to conduct future studies that explore this microbiome further to understand what type of stent-associated infection someone may develop based on their initial condition.