Original Papers - Stones and Infections Open access

Prospective observational comparative study on antibiotic prophylaxis in cystoscopy: towards a rational use of antimicrobials

Authors

Published
31 March 2026
Section
Original Papers - Stones and Infections
DOI
10.4081/aiua.2026.14883

Abstract

Introduction: Antibiotic resistance represents a major public health problem driven by inappropriate antimicrobial use. Cystoscopy is a common urological procedure associated with a low risk of urinary tract infection (UTI), and the role of routine antibiotic prophylaxis remains controversial.
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis in preventing post-cystoscopy UTI.
Materials and methods: A prospective observational comparative study including 297 patients undergoing outpatient cystoscopy. Patients were assigned to Group A (no prophylaxis, n=161) and Group B (cefuroxime 500 mg prophylaxis, n=136). Urine cultures were obtained one hour before and one week after cystoscopy. Significant bacteriuria was defined as >104 CFU/ml. Risk factors were analyzed according to current literature. Fisher’s exact test and multivariate logistic regression were performed. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS/R.
Results: UTI occurred in 5.59% of patients without prophylaxis and 5.88% with prophylaxis (p=1.00). Antibiotic prophylaxis did not reduce infection risk (OR 0.95; 95% CI 0.36-2.53). Baseline characteristics and risk factors were similar between groups. No independent predictor reached statistical significance.
Conclusions: Routine antibiotic prophylaxis does not reduce post-cystoscopy UTI incidence in low-risk patients, supporting restrictive and rational antimicrobial use.

Keywords

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

References

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