Prostatic fluid analysis in spinal-cord-injured patients with recurrent urinary tract infections.
OBJECTIVE
Recurrent urinary tract infections are common in spinal-cord-injured patients. Our study was designed to evaluate the association of bacteria colony counts, white blood cell (WBC) count, and antibody-coated bacteria analyzed in urethral and prostatic samples in hospitalized spinal-cord-injured patients with recurrent urinary tract infections.


METHODS
Thirty-three patients were studied and 4 noninfected patients served as controls; 17 patients were paraplegic and 20 were quadriplegic. Mean patient age was 34.8 years and mean follow-up period was ninety-three days. During the surveillance period, 19 of the 33 patients had relapsing infections (same organism), while 14 had reinfections (new organism). A modified Foley catheter was used to seal the bladder neck, so that urethral and prostatic samples could be obtained.


RESULTS
Bacteria colony counts and WBC counts did not correlate with relapsing infection. However, significantly more patients with relapsing infection (8/19) had antibody-coated bacteria in their prostatic fluid than patients with reinfection (1/13) (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The presence of antibody-coated bacteria in prostatic fluid is associated with relapsing urinary tract infections and not with reinfection.
Katz
P G
PG
Division of Urology, Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.
Greenstein
A
A
Midha
M
M
Marcelino
V
V
Jones
L K
LK
Wong
E S
ES
D000328:Adult; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000382:microbiology*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011467:Prostate / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012008:Recurrence; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D014521:Urethra / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial