Longer Preoperative Antibiotic Duration Prior to High-Risk Ureteroscopy Does Not Decrease Infectious Complications

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Postoperative infections after ureteroscopy are common and potentially devastating complications. National and international guidelines recommend treatment of symptomatic positive urine cultures prior to operation, but how to manage patients with asymptomatic colonization remains unclear. In clinical practice, there is wide variation in the choice and duration of antibiotics for these patients. To examine how preoperative antibiotic duration impacts postoperative infection rate, we evaluated our institutional practices and outcomes. <b><i>Materials and Methods:</i></b> Our prospectively collected database was queried for patients undergoing ureteroscopy between 2015 and 2023. Preoperative urine culture results and antibiotic duration/choice were abstracted. Patients included for study were those with a high risk of urinary colonization defined as those with history of neurological insult, bowel diversion, indwelling suprapubic catheter or foley, or a stent/nephrostomy. Our primary outcome was postoperative infection, defined by urinary tract infection (UTI), pyelonephritis, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), or fever within 30 days of operation. <b><i>Results:</i></b> A total of 405 patients met our inclusion criteria. Preoperative prophylactic antibiotics were not utilized in 68% of the study cohort, while 11% received less than 3 days or 3-10 days of prophylaxis and the remaining 10% received more than 10 days. The overall rate of UTI or pyelonephritis was 9%, and the SIRS or sepsis rate was 5%. Although receipt of preoperative prophylactic antibiotics of any duration was not predictive of postoperative infectious complications on multivariable analysis, women were associated with a 4.135 (OR: 1.768-9.669, <i>p</i> = 0.001) increased odds of UTI/pyelonephritis compared with men. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> In high-risk patients, the duration of preoperative antibiotics prior to ureteroscopy did not reduce postoperative infectious complication rates. Women were the only clinical feature associated with increased risk of UTI/pyelonephritis. Further research is needed to identify alternative interventions to prevent postoperative infectious complications.