Intra-operative stone culture as an independent predictor of systemic inflammatory response syndrome after percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

To evaluate the correlation between preoperative urine culture and stone culture findings during PCNL and choosing the appropriate antimicrobial treatment of patients with urinary tract infection or SIRS after PCNL. From April 2007 to March 2008, 51 patients aged 24–66 years underwent PCNL under general anesthesia. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (v.18), the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Student’s t test, and the Chi square or Fisher’s exact tests. Before operation, 11 patients (21.6 %) had positive urine culture. Sixteen patients (31.4 %) had positive stone culture during operation. SIRS occurred in 13 patients (25.5 %). In female group (10 cases, 45.5 %), SIRS was significantly higher than male group (3 cases, 10.3 %) (P = 0.008). Positive stone culture was significantly more prevalent in cases with positive pre-operative urine culture than cases with negative pre-operative urine culture (P = 0.023). But positive stone culture in group with SIRS, was significantly more common than group without SIRS (P = 0.001). Also positive stone culture in female group had significantly higher than male group (P = 0.003). We found a significant, tenfold increase in the risk of developing SIRS after PNCL, only in patients with positive stone culture (OR = 9.96; 95 % CI = 2.37–41.85, P = 0.002). Positive stone culture is a significant predictor of SIRS after PCNL, regardless of other related factors. Therefore, in order to avoid using blind empirical antibiotic regimen and to reduce the risk of subsequent microbial resistance due to use of prevalent broad-spectrum antibiotics, it would be wise to choose appropriate antibiotic therapy based on the results of intraoperative stone culture.