Abstract

Purpose: Catheter associated urinary tract infection and discomfort is common in patients with an indwelling urinary catheter. We investigated the effectiveness of prophylactic topical antibiotic ointment for genitourinary post-operative patients with a urinary catheter. Materials and Methods: We investigated 112 inpatients between March 2013 and October 2013, who had an indwelling urinary catheter ≥24 hours after a genitourinary operation in our institution from medical records. Among 112 patients, 59 patients applied ofloxacin ointment to urethral meatus around the indwelling catheter twice a day (ointment group: 52.7%) and 53 patients did not (non-ointment group: 47.3%). All patients were examined by urine analysis and urine culture before the operation, urethral sweep culture after catheter removal, and severity of pain was recorded as visual analogue scale (VAS) score while having an indwelling urinary catheter. Results: Mean duration of urinary catheter of both groups did not differ statistically (3.08±2.19 day, 2.91±2.25 day). Patients with pyuria detected at pre-operative urinalysis were 22.1% vs. 15.1%, pre-operative urine culture positive were 6.8% vs. 9.4%, urethra meatal culture positive after urethral catheter removal were 16.9% vs. 13.2%, respectively, and all results showed no significant differences between two groups. VAS scores of the ointment group (3.52±1.66) while having an indwelling urinary catheter were significantly lower than those of the non-ointment group (5.61±1.75) (p＜0.001). Conclusions: Application of topical antibiotic ointment for genitourinary post-operative patients with urinary catheter had no benefit in reducing growth of urethral microorganisms, but it may decrease pain from an indwelling urinary catheter.

• Keywords: Urinary catheters; Pain; Ointments