Prophylactic antibiotics in transurethral prostatectomy.

The study included 88 patients with sterile urine prior to transurethral prostatectomy. Forty-five received a preoperative dose of 2 g of cefotaxime (Claforan) and the remaining 43 were given 10 ml of 0.9% NaCl. The two groups did not differ in frequency of postoperative urinary infection (greater than 10(5) colonies per ml urine); 6 patients (13.3%) in the cefotaxime group had postoperative infections during hospital stay as compared to 8 patients (18.6%) in the control group (0.5 greater than p greater than 0.3). Those in the cefotaxime group who had infections were tested for resistance. They were all fully sensitive to cefotaxime except one, who was infected with enterococci. There was no growth of bacteria from either venous blood or bladder irrigating fluid taken during the operations. Nor were any serious complications observed in any of the patients. In view of the relatively low risk of infection and the few side effects of the infections that did occur, prophylactic treatment with an antibiotic is not indicated for transurethral prostatectomy in patients with sterile urine.