Time of administration of a single dose of oral levofloxacin and its effect in infectious complications from transrectal prostate biopsy

Abstract

To evaluate the efficacy of two prophylactic schemes for prostate biopsy using a single dose of oral levofloxacin given either before, or immediately after transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy. A total of 300 men formed two groups of 150 patients each: the first group received one dose of 500 mg of levofloxacin 30 min to an hour before, and the second group the same antibiotic immediately after prostate biopsy. No pre-biopsy enema was used. Side effects after prostate biopsy were recorded, and the two groups were compared. Only one patient from the first group developed a urinary tract infection after biopsy. A mean number of more than 10 cores per patient were taken. Haematuria was the most common complaint, followed by haemospermia. Haematuria and rectal bleeding were more common in patients where more than 8 cores were taken from the prostate (P = 0.005 and P = 0.017, respectively). Prostate cancer was detected in 34.3% of patients in total. The use of a single dose of 500 mg levofloxacin given immediately after prostate biopsy proved to be quite effective for the prevention of infectious complications, even in the setting of an extensive biopsy protocol.