Randomized Controlled Study of Chemoprophylaxis in Transurethral Prostatectomy

AbstractWe studied 599 evaluable patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy at 7 urological units. Before transurethral prostatectomy the patients were randomized into 3 groups: group 1—197 patients given single-dose ceftriaxone (2 gm.), group 2—203 patients given 160/800mg. trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and group 3—199 controls given no antimicrobial prophylaxis. Patients with a preoperative indwelling catheter, positive urine culture, signs of active infection or preoperative antibiotic treatment were excluded. Postoperative infectious complications were demonstrated in 15 of 197 (7.6%), 25 of 203 (12.3%) and 43 of 199 (21.6%) patients in the study groups, respectively. The difference in infectious complications between groups 1 and 3 was statistically highly significant (p <0.01) and between groups 2 and 3 it was significant (p <0.05). Single-dose antibiotic prophylaxis proved to be useful in the prevention of serious infectious complications after transurethral prostatectomy.