Physical therapy in the management of stone fragments: progress, status, and needs.

With an increased risk of symptomatic events, the complications related to residual fragments are complex and intractable. The management of stone fragments is a challenge to urologists. This review focused on the progress, status, and needs of the newly developed physical therapies to remove fragments and improve the stone-free rate. Physical therapies, including mechanical percussion, diuresis, and inversion therapy, ultrasonic propulsion technology, glue-clot technology, and magnetization technology, will facilitate progress in endoscopic stone fragment retrieval.