Abstract

"Purpose: The blood serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and digital rectal examination (DRE) are being more commonly used for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer, such that more patients are going through prostate biopsies. The authors investigated the value of prophylactic intravenous antibiotics to prevent infective complication after the biopsy. Materials and Methods: The subjects were 356 patients aged 40-88 year who had a prostate biopsy from January 2004 to July 2008. Among them, 89 patients who had taken prophylactic intravenous antibiotics before the biopsy were designated as Group I, and the remaining 267 patients, as Group II who didn't had taken prophylactic intravenous antibiotics before the biopsy. The patients took then oral antibiotics (fluoroquinolone) for one week, from the morning after the biopsy, to prevent infection. The occurrence of complication was monitored based on such symptoms as gross hematuria, rectal bleeding, hemospermia, dysuria, voiding difficulty, fever. Results: 87 patients (24.4%) of the total 356 patients were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Infective complication occurred in 6 patients (1.7%), among whom 2 patients (2.2%) in Group I had taken prophylactic intravenous antibiotics, and 4 patients (1.6%) in Group II did not take intravenous antibiotics. Infective complication rates of the two groups did not have statistically differences (p>0.05). Conclusions: The intake of prophylactic intravenous antibiotics before the prostate biopsy did not have a special impact on the prevalence rate of infective complication after the biopsies."

• Keywords: Prostate, Biopsy, Complication, Antibiotics