Prophylactic antibiotics in transurethral resection of bladder tumors: are they necessary?

In a double-blind study, 30 patients having transurethral surgery for bladder tumors were randomly assigned to receive prophylactic carbenicillin indanyl sodium or a placebo perioperatively. Only one patient in the carbenicillin group had a postoperative urinary infection due to carbenicillin-resistant Klebsiella oxytoca organisms. Thus, no advantage from the prophylactic use of antibiotics was evident in this uninfected group of patients.