OBJECTIVE To compare the incidence of infective events between a single dose and 3‐day antibiotic prophylaxis for transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS)‐guided prostate biopsy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients were randomized to receive either one preoperative dose consisting of two ciprofloxacin 500 mg tablets 2 h before prostate biopsy, or 3 days of ciprofloxacin treatment. They had a clinical examination at study inclusion, the day of the biopsy and 3 weeks later. The day after the procedure all patients were contacted by telephone to inquire about any significant event. Biological testing and urine cultures were conducted 5 days before and then 5 and 15 days after the biopsy; a self‐administered symptom questionnaire was completed by the patient 5 days before and then at 5 and 15 days. RESULTS The study group included 288 men, of whom 139 were randomized to the single‐dose arm and 149 to the 3‐day arm. Six patients in each group had an asymptomatic bacteriuria with no leukocyturia. One patient in each group had documented prostatitis, with Escherichia coli identified on urine culture. The strain identified in the patient from the 3‐day group was resistant to ciprofloxacin. There was no difference between groups in symptoms at 5 and 21 days after biopsy. CONCLUSIONS Current TRUS‐guided prostate biopsy techniques lead to very few clinical infectious complications when accompanied by antibiotic prophylaxis. We found no argument to advocate the use of more than one dose of antibiotic prophylaxis.

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Introduction: The percentage of positive prostate biopsy cores (%PBC) has been shown to be a prognostic factor in localized prostate cancer. We hypothesized that it would predict time to hormonal independence and survival in prostate cancer patients treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Patients and Methods: We used clinical data from 403 men treated with ADT between 1980 and 1999 and focused on a subgroup of 220 patients treated with GnRH analogue. %PBC was defined as the number of positive biopsy cores multiplied by 100 and divided by the total number of biopsy cores. Results: Median %PBC was 83.3% (16.7–100%). Mean follow-up was 57.4 months. Survival at 5 years in men with 83.3% PBC or less was 62.3, 89.1 and 82.6% for recurrence-free, specific and overall survival, respectively, significantly better than that of men with a %PBC of more than 83.3% (32.2, 74.7 and 67.7%, respectively; p < 0.004). Among the factors available in the pretreatment setting, namely age, clinical stage, PSA, Gleason score, bone scan and %PBC, the latter was independently associated with survival in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: %PBC may improve the ability to predict time to hormonal resistance and survival in patients treated with ADT for prostate cancer. This finding warrants further investigation.

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