Urine Culture before Radical Prostatectomy: Mitigating the Risk of Post-Operative Urinary Tract Infections

Background: Post-operative urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a notable complication of radical prostatectomy, contributing to prolonged hospital stays, increased healthcare costs, and diminished patient quality of life. Despite international guideline recommendations of European Association of Urology and the French Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine regarding the use of pre-operative urine cultures and antibiotic prophylaxis (AP) before radical prostatectomy, the role of pre-operative urine cultures in mitigating UTI risk remains uncertain. Methods: This multi-center prospective cohort study analyzed data from six French urology departments. Patients who underwent radical prostatectomy between January 2019 and June 2023, with variable inclusion periods across centers, were included if pre-operative urine cultures were performed. Patients were stratified into subgroups based on the occurrence of post-operative UTIs. Uni-variable and multi-variable logistic regressions, as well as receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, were used. Results: A total of 467 patients were analyzed, among whom post-operative UTIs developed in 30 patients. Among peri-operative factors, only the ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) score (p = 0.014) and the duration of post-operative catheterization (p = 0.001) were significantly associated with UTI occurrence in uni-variable analyses. Multi-variable logistic regression confirmed both factors as independent predictors of post-operative infections, with a model area under the ROC curve for catheterization duration of 0.789. A seven-day threshold for catheterization duration was identified as the optimal cutoff for predicting infection risk. Notably, neither pre-operative urine bacterial cultures nor AP reduced the incidence of post-operative UTIs. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that pre-operative urine cultures and prophylactic antibiotic agents do not mitigate UTI risk following radical prostatectomy, underscoring the need for optimized infection prevention tactics. The findings challenge the clinical utility of routine pre-operative urine cultures and highlight the critical roles of ASA score and post-operative catheterization duration in predicting infections.