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Risk of Bacteraemia During Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy
Author(s) -
GASSER T.C.,
FREI R.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
british journal of urology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1464-410X
pISSN - 0007-1331
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-410x.1993.tb15872.x
Subject(s) - extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy , medicine , extracorporeal , lithotripsy , intensive care medicine , cardiology , surgery
Summary Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is widely used to treat urinary calculi. With increasing numbers of ESWL, more patients prone to infectious complications will be treated. However, little is known about the infectious risks of ESWL. To provide a basis for the rational use of antimicrobial prophylaxis, we studied the incidence of bacteraemia during ESWL. A total of 23 patients with urinary calculi were treated. Blood cultures (4–7 per patient) were taken before, during and immediately after ESWL, adding up to a total of 154 cultures. In 22 of these patients no bacteraemia was detected. In 1 patient small numbers of 2 different micro‐organisms were found in 2 blood samples only. This finding, and the circumstances of blood collection, suggested contamination rather than bacteraemia. It was concluded that the risk of bacteraemia during ESWL is very low.