Perioperative infectious risk in urology: Management of preoperative polymicrobial urine culture. A systematic review. By the infectious disease Committee of the French Association of urology.

INTRODUCTION

The aim was to assess the risk of postoperative infections in patients with preoperative polymicrobial urine culture and to provide the urologist with practices to minimise the risk of infection in these clinical situations.

METHODS

A systematic literature review was carried. All national and international recommendations have been reviewed. Data collection has been performed from the Cochrane, LILACS and the Medline database. 31 publications were selected for inclusion.

RESULTS

Risk of infection in patients without ureteral stents or urinary catheters with previous polymicrobial urine culture is low. In the absence of leukocyturia, the urine sample can be considered as sterile. With ureteral stents or urinary catheters, the colonisation by biofilm ranges from 4 to 100% depending on the duration and ureteral stents or urinary catheters type. Urine culture is positive 24 to 45% of the time when ureteral stents or urinary catheters are known to be colonised. The post-operative risk of infection in endo-urological surgery in a patient with ureteral stents or urinary catheters is estimated around 8 to 11% depending on the type of surgery. A retrospective study reports a postoperative infections rate of 18.5% in photo selective vaporization of the prostate with preoperative polymicrobial urine culture.

CONCLUSIONS

Scientific data are limited but for patients without ureteral stents or urinary catheters, in the absence of leukocyturia, the polymicrobial urine culture can be considered as negative. Considering a preoperative polymicrobial urine culture as sterile in patients with colonised ureteral stents or urinary catheters is at risk of neglecting a high risk of postoperative infections or sepsis even in case of perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis. It should not always be considered sterile and therefore, a perioperative antibiotic therapy could be an acceptable option.