Increasing hospital admission rates for urological complications after transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy.
OBJECTIVE
Transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy is widely used to confirm the diagnosis of prostate cancer. The technique has been associated with significant morbidity in a small proportion of patients.


METHODS
We conducted a population based study of 75,190 men who underwent a transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy in Ontario, Canada, between 1996 and 2005. We used hospital and cancer registry administrative databases to estimate the rates of hospital admission and mortality due to urological complications associated with the procedure.


RESULTS
Of the 75,190 men who underwent transrectal ultrasound biopsy 33,508 (44.6%) were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 41,682 (55.4%) did not have prostate cancer. The hospital admission rate for urological complications within 30 days of the procedure for men without cancer was 1.9% (781/41,482). The 30-day hospital admission rate increased from 1.0% in 1996 to 4.1% in 2005 (p for trend <0.0001). The majority of hospital admissions (72%) were for infection related reasons. The probability of being admitted to hospital within 30 days of having the procedure increased 4-fold between 1996 and 2005 (OR 3.7, 95% CI 2.0-7.0, p <0.0001). The overall 30-day mortality rate was 0.09% but did not change during the study period.


CONCLUSIONS
The hospital admission rates for complications following transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy have increased dramatically during the last 10 years primarily due to an increasing rate of infection related complications.
Nam
Robert K
RK
Division of Urology, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Robert.nam@utoronto.ca
Saskin
Refik
R
Lee
Yuna
Y
Liu
Ying
Y
Law
Calvin
C
Klotz
Laurence H
LH
Loblaw
D Andrew
DA
Trachtenberg
John
J
Stanimirovic
Aleksandra
A
Simor
Andrew E
AE
Seth
Arun
A
Urbach
David R
DR
Narod
Steven A
SA
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011467:Prostate / Q000473:pathology*; D012007:Rectum; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014570:Urologic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy