Prophylactic antibiotics in transurethral prostatectomy.

There were 110 patients with preoperative sterile urine who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate and 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 per cent and from 42 to 6.5 per cent, respectively. We were not able 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. These data suggest that prophylactic antibiotics should be administered preoperatively to uninfected patients who undergo transurethral resection of the prostate to prevent postoperative urinary tract infection.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes