Abstract

Introduction: Funguria is encountered in 1% to 5% of cultured urine specimens and may be a result of specimen contamination, colonization, or invasive infection. The characteristics and outcomes of patients with funguria undergoing endourologic intervention have not been evaluated. Materials and Methods: Patients with preoperative funguria undergoing endourologic intervention were retrospectively identified. Preoperative funguria was defined as a urine culture containing >10,000 colony forming units of fungus within 30 days of the operative intervention. Univariable and multivariable regression was performed to identify predictors of postoperative systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Results: A total of 65 patients with preoperative funguria were identified, of whom 49 (75.4%) underwent ureteroscopy and 16 (24.6%) underwent percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Average patient age was 55.1 ± 18.3 years, body mass index was 31.8 ± 11.0, and Charlson comorbidity index was 2.52 ± 2.0. Twenty-three patients (35.4%) carried a diagnosis of neurogenic bladder, of whom 18 (27.7%) required indwelling or intermittent catheterization. In total 57 patients (87.7%) had been exposed to antibiotics in the 3 months before intervention. Eighteen (27.7%) patients met SIRS criteria postoperatively, of whom 11 (16.9%) required intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Three (4.6%) and two (3.1%) patients developed postoperative fungemia and bacteremia, respectively. All cases of fungemia were caused by Candida glabrata. On univariable analysis, presence of an indwelling catheter (p = 0.009), presence of a known neurological diagnosis (p = 0.02), presence of C. glabrata on preoperative culture (p = 0.04), and longer operative time (p = 0.04) were predictive of development of postoperative SIRS. No significant predictors were identified on multivariable analysis. Conclusions: Patients with preoperative funguria have high rates of comorbid illness, urinary catheterization, and recent exposure to antibiotics. This patient population is at high risk of perioperative infectious complications after endourologic intervention.