[Treatment of urinary tract infections after prostatectomy]

Patients subjected to transvesical prostatectomy were given before and after the operation Nebcin (Tobramycin) intramuscularly in daily doses of 160 mg for 8 days to prevent infections of the urinary tract which develop almost without fail after operations of this type. The urine of the patients participating in the trials was sterile before operation. Two hours before the operation the patient was given his full daily dose and the serum and urine levels, as well as the concentration of the antibiotic in the tissue were determined. The removed organs were processed under aseptic conditions. Bacteriological assay ensured the measurement of the biologically effective quantity of the drug, in contrast to chemical methods. The 18-hour slanting agar culture of the strain of the species susceptible to the antibiotic under investigation was used. The optical density of the suspension of the culture washed with physiological saline was photonephelometrically adjusted to that of a standard barium sulphate suspension. Compared to the controls the results indicate that the pre- and postoperatively administered antibiotic has a favourable effect on the healing of the wound, and on the progress of the postoperative phase.