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Transrectal biopsy is one of the more popular methods for the diagnosis of prostatic cancer. However, there is disagreement as to whether the use of prophylactic antimicrobials decreases the incidence of fever and urinary tract infections, which may follow this procedure. A prospective randomized double-blind study involving 63 patients was instituted to determine the efficacy of carbenicillin indanyl sodium in reducing these complications. The protocol consisted of administration of 2 tablets of 4 times daily of a placebo or the treatment drug 24 hours before and after biopsy. Clean catch urine cultures were obtained 24 hours before biopsy and at 48 hours and 2 weeks after the procedure. Blood cultures were performed 15 minutes after biopsy. In addition, clinical parameters were monitored closely in the hospital for 48 hours after biopsy. A total of 48 patients was considered evaluable. Of 23 patients who received the study drug 2 (8.6 per cent) had positive urine cultures at 48 hours compared to 9 of 25 (36 per cent) from the placebo group. A similar result was observed from the 2-week culture data, in which 2 of 23 patients (8.6 per cent) in the treatment group had positive urine cultures as opposed to 5 of 25 (20 per cent) receiving the placebo. Fever occurred in 48 per cent of the placebo and in 17 per cent of the carbenicillin groups. Our data indicate that prophylactic administration of carbenicillin indanyl sodium decreases the complications of fever and urinary tract infections following transrectal biopsy of the prostate.
Crawford et al. (Mon,) studied this question.