Intraluminal antibiotic regimen for patients undergoing transrectal needle biopsy of prostate

Twenty-five consecutive patients who had an abnormal prostate examination were subjected to transrectal biopsy of the prostate gland. The day prior to biopsy the patients were started on a modification of the Nichols-Condon bowel preparation utilizing only neomycin and erythromycin base. Although none of the patients became febrile, 3 patients had a positive post-biopsy blood culture (2 anaerobic and 1 aerobic). None of the 24 patients with a negative pre-biopsy urine culture had a positive post-biopsy culture. This regimen effectively reduces the reported incidence of both fever (95% confidence limit of 0 to 13.7% for the true proportion) and bacteremia (95% confidence limit of 2.6 to 31.2% for the true proportion).