Prophylactic Antibiotics in Transurethral Prostatectomy

Abstract

Patients (110) with preoperative sterile urine, who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate, were included in a prospective, randomized, double-blind study that compared the effects of cefoxitin, a cephalosporin, to a placebo. The 2 treatment groups were comparable in age, weight of patient, general condition, diagnosis, preoperative instrumentation, operating time, weight of resected tissue and blood loss. Cefoxitin significantly lowered the incidence of infection as indicated 3 and 7 days postoperatively, from 26.4 to 3.9% and from 42 to 6.5%, respectively. It was not possible to correlate infection to age, general condition, diagnosis, operating time, preoperative instrumentation, weight of resected tissue or blood loss. No statistical difference was found between the 2 treatment groups in the incidence and degree of postoperative fever. Prophylactic antibiotics apparently should be administered preoperatively to uninfected patients who undergo transurethral resection of the prostate to prevent postoperative urinary tract infection.