Antibiotic prophylaxis in catheter-associated urinary infections.

This study aimed to assess the usefulness of antibiotic prophylaxis with Levofloxacin (LVFX) in short and mediumterm catheterisations. This study was developed to evaluate and confirm the effectiveness and need for prophylaxis in preventing catheter-associated UTIs, using LVFX at a dose of 250 mg administered orally to patients who had been subjected to short and medium-term urinary bladder catheterisation following surgery (3-14 days). The study was designed as a phase III study with parallel groups, multicentre, randomised, controlled with a placebo in three groups. The study was double-blind in treatment groups A and B and single-blind in group C. The study involved the recruitment of 120 patients, 40 for each treatment group. We show two types of results, one based on primary effectiveness variables and the other on the secondary effectiveness variables. The group treated with LVFX displayed a greater tendency toward the negativisation of bacteriuria and pyuria tests than that recorded for the placebo group, and was essentially comparable to that recorded for the group of patients treated with Ciprofloxacin. We can thus affirm that LVFX may be useful for preventing short and medium-term CAUTIs.