Prophylactic administration of antibiotics unnecessary following ultrasound-guided biopsy and ablation therapy for liver tumors: Open-labeled randomized prospective study

To determine the prophylactic effect of antibiotics administration in the prevention of infection following an ultrasound-guided percutaneous liver biopsy or treatment of liver tumors, we performed an open-labeled randomized prospective study of patients who received prophylactic antibiotics after undergoing those procedures. We studied 101 patients, with ultrasound-guided percutaneous aspiration biopsies of the liver performed in 48 to diagnose diffuse liver diseases or liver tumors, while percutaneous ethanol-injection therapy was performed in two patients with malignant liver tumors and percutaneous radiofrequency ablation was performed in 51 patients. An oral administration of levofloxacin at 400 mg/day was given to 50 of the enrolled patients from the morning of the treatment day for three days. Preventive antibiotics were not administered to the remaining 51 patients. Body temperature, peripheral blood leukocyte number, c-reactive protein, alanine aminotransferase, and lactic dehydrogenase were measured daily for three days after treatment. Most parameters changed following percutaneous treatments of liver tumors, though no significant differences were seen between the patients treated with antibiotics and those untreated. Most significantly, there was no difference in the frequency of post-procedure infection between the groups. Our results suggest that prophylactic administration of antibiotics following a percutaneous liver biopsy and treatment of liver tumors does not have a significant impact on the post-procedure results or incidence of infection.