Percutaneous nephrolithotripsy in infected urine: to hew not to drain

Aim: of our study was to compare the safety and efficiency of percutaneous nephrolithotripsy (PNL) in patients with positive urine culture results but without the symptoms of urinary tract infection (UTI), and to determine the optimal duration of preoperative antibiotic therapy in this group of patients. Materials and methods. The prospective study comprised the results of 428 PNL operations performed on 388 patients who were divided into 2 groups. In the first group (n = 254, operations were performed on 236 patients), the urine culture was sterile before the operation, whereas in the second group (n = 174, operations were performed on 152 patients) the urine culture was positive. In the first group, patients underwent preoperative (30 minutes before the operation) antibacterial drug administration, and then daily, for 7 days. In the second group, the drug was prescribed the day before the operation in a therapeutic dose taking into account urine culture results, and then daily as in group 1...