Objective To explore the curative effects of different surgical treatments on complicated upper ureteral calculi and the effects of lithotripsy.Methods Retrospective analysis was made on the clinical data on 348 patients with complicated upper ureteral calculi.From the patients who were treated respectively with ureteroscopic pneumatic lithotripsy (URSL),percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL),extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL),and retroperitoneal laparoscopic ureterolithotomy (RLU),33 ones were selected randomly and divided into groups A,B,C,and D.The time and process of lithotripsy,the intraoperative blood loss,the hospitalization time,the cost of treatment and other perioperative indicators,the success rate of one-time operation,the stone free rate (SFR),the rate of two-or multi-time operations,and related postoperative complications among the groups were compared.Results The perioperative indicators,the success rate of one-time operation,and SFR in groups A and C were significantly lower than those in groups B and D group (P< 0.05).During the follow-up visit of 12 months,the incidence of adverse reactions in group B was 48.5%,significantly higher than that in the other three groups (P < 0.05).Conclusion URSL has a shorter operation duration and less trauma,but the success rate of one-time operation and the SFR are low;the SFR of PCNL is ideal,but the risk of postoperative complications is high;ESWL needs lower cost and has small trauma,and needs no postoperative hospitalization,but the success rate of one-time operation and the SFR are lower;,RLU has high success rate of one-time operation and SFR,as well as low risk of postoperative complications,but the probability of accidental injury during operation is high.Therefore,it is necessary to select the best surgical treatment in clinical use according to the actual situation.