The efficacy of duration of prophylactic antibiotics in transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy

Volkan Bulut, Ali Feyzullah Şahin, Yavuz Balaban, Muammer Altok, Rauf Taner Divrik, Ferruh Zorlu

We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the duration of prophylactic antibiotic administration in patients undergoing transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided biopsy. A total of 367 patients undergoing a prostate biopsy between September 2007 and June 2009 was reviewed retrospectively and divided into 2 groups according to prophilaxy: oral ciprofloxacin (750 mg every 12 hours) for 3 or more days in Group-1 and single day in Group-2. Demographic characteristics of patients, symptoms, PSA values, IPSS scores, prostate sizes, pathologic results and complications were compared between the groups. The mean age of all patients was 63.92 years and the mean PSA was 13.61ng/ dL. The pre-biopsy mean IPSS score was 12.47 and mean prostate volume 52.53 mL. For 78.2% of patients the current biopsy was their first biopsy. Cancer detection rate was 24.2%. Fever was observed in 3 (1.2%) patients in Group-1 and 5 (4.0%) patients in Group-2. Local infections occurred in 2 (0.8%) and 1 (0.8%) patients respectively in Groups 1 and 2. Acute prostatitis was observed in only 1 (0.8%) patient in Group-2. None of the patients developed septicemia or other serious infection. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of fever, local infections (epididimitis, orchitis, etc.) and acute prostatitis. In a selected patient population single dose prophylaxis with ciprofloxacin can be safely administered compared to other regimens of 3 or more days. Increasing the duration of antibiotic prophylaxis does not decrease infectious complications.