Are complications of transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsies of the prostate gland increasing?

Although transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsies (TRUSB) of the prostate gland are generally considered to be low-risk procedures, a study from Canada reported that there had been a significant increase in the percentage of hospital admissions following TRUSBs between 1996 and 2005 (1.0% to 4.1%). The authors speculated that the increase may be secondary to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant enteric bacteria or the result of an increasing number of cores taken with each TRUSB. In a chart review, we retrospectively evaluated complications from 2,080 consecutive TRUSBs performed by one urology group in Connecticut between January 2003 and August 2010. We identified seven patients (0.34%) who were admitted to an acute-care hospital for infectious complications and three patients (0.14%) who were admitted for bleeding. The risk of serious infections and bleeding did not significantly rise during the study period despite a significant increase in the mean number of biopsy cores taken.