Comparative Analysis of Bacteriological Profile of Urine and Stent Culture among Patients with Ureteric Double J Stent

Abstract

  Background: A common indication in urological pathologies and especially in instances of ureteric calculi/obstruction, is the placement of ureteric catheter such as the double J stent. 76% of patient with double J stent may encounter adverse outcome owing to bacterial colonization of their stents. Though antibiotic administration may help counter the situation, the implicated microorganisms are hard to determine. One may suggest that a urine culture may offer insight into the matter, however, little is known how bacteriology of the urine and stent culture resemble and thus a comparative analysis is much needed. Objective: To compare the bacteriologic profile of urine and stent culture to determine the incidence and etiology of bacteriuria among patients with ureteric double J stent. Methodology: This cross-sectional analysis, was conducted upon a sample of 219 patients (of either gender, aged 10 to 70 years) presenting for ureteric double J stent removal from June 2021 to February 2022 at Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi. After taking written informed consent, data was recorded onto a pre-structured questionnaire containing inquiries pertaining to basic biodata, sociodemographic details, bacteriological profiles of the urine and ureteric double J stent culture. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS v. 21.0. Results: Among the sample 51.6% of the patients were males, while the remaining 48.4% were females. The mean age of the sample stood at 38 (SD ± 9.1). The total incidence of bacterial colonization was seen in 61.64% and 19.6% of stent and urine cultures respectively, with Enterococci being the commonest (54.8%) organism in stent culture and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa being the commonest (32.6%) in urine culture. Conclusion: After careful consideration, it can be concluded that the incidence of bacterial colonization among both cultures, in addition to the detailed bacteriological profiles of urine and ureteric double J stent culture differ considerably and urine culture may not serve as an ideal indicator of stent colonization and antibiotic prophylaxis should continue to be practiced among symptomatic patients despite a sterile urine culture.