ReviewEuropean urology open science2025
Rectal Swab-based Targeted Prophylactic Antibiotics Reduce Infectious Complications After Transrectal Prostate Biopsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in European urology open science, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Ciprofloxacin Versus Fosfomycin for Empirical Prophylaxis Before Transrectal Prostate Biopsy: Clinical, Microbiological, and Patient-Reported Outcomes from a Prospective Study.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background and objective: Transperineal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy is the recommended approach in guidelines, while transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUS-PB) is still widely used to diagnose prostate cancer (PCa); however, it is associated with a significant rate of infectious complications. We aimed to assess the efficacy of targeted prophylactic antibiotics (TPAs), based on rectal swabs, in reducing the incidence of infectious complications after TRUS-PB compared with empiric prophylactic antibiotics. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were queried in December 2024 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing infectious complications between patients who received TPAs based on rectal swab culture before TRUS-PB and those who received empiric prophylactic antibiotics before TRUS-PB (PROSPERO: CRD42024523794). The primary outcomes were the incidence rates of febrile urinary tract infection (fUTI) and sepsis. Key findings and limitations: Overall, nine RCTs ( Conclusions and clinical implications: TPAs based on rectal swab culture significantly reduces the incidence of fUTI in patients who undergo TRUS-PB for PCa diagnosis compared with that in patients who receive empiric prophylactic antibiotics; however, there is insufficient evidence to assess its effect on the risk of sepsis. We recommend, based on the clinically relevant reduction in the incidence of fUTI, performing rectal swab-based TPAs in patients undergoing TRUS-PB. Patient summary: We reviewed infections occurring after transrectal prostate biopsy in over 3000 patients. The use of antibiotics chosen based on a simple rectal swab decreased the rate of postbiopsy fever and urinary tract infections by half compared with the use of standard antibiotics. More research is needed to understand whether this approach also prevents the rare but serious complication of sepsis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.