The necessity of prophylactic antibiotics during extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy

In this study we treated 340 patients with renal and ureteric stones. They all underwent ESWL with the HM-4 lithotriptor. The patients were divided into two groups, the first one including 250 patients and the second 90. The first group consisted of patients with sterile urine prior to ESWL. These patients did not receive any antibiotic prophylaxis, while 5.2% of them developed infectious problems which were followed by significant bacteriuria in only 2% of the cases. The 90 patients of the second group had urinary tract infection on the preoperative cultures and received antibiotic treatment. Of these patients 27.8% developed infectious problems which were followed by significant bacteriuria in 21.1% of the cases. Evaluating the above results, we estimate that the administration of prophylactic antibiotics in the case of patients with sterile urine before ESWL is not required while it may prove to be useful in the case of patients with urinary tract infection prior to ESWL.