Management of the Urologic Sepsis Syndrome

In approximately one-third of patients with sepsis, the source of infection is the urinary tract. The management of sepsis has rapidly changed over the past two decades, and a review of urosepsis management is paramount. It is estimated that in 30% of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock, the underlying reason is a urinary tract infection (UTI). The prevalence of microbiologically proven urosepsis in urology departments has been reported as 1.5% (quarter of health care–associated UTIs). On a global level, it has been postulated that 5.4 million deaths occur due to sepsis. The main causes of urosepsis are indwelling urinary catheters and urologic interventions (stone treatment, prostate biopsies, and endoscopic urethral stricture treatment). Urosepsis-causative pathogens are primarily gram-negative bacteria; this is different from sepsis overall, which is dominated by gram-positive bacteria. Its been reported that the resistance rates of pathogens in urosepsis are >10% for almost all antibiotics. The main principles of management of urosepsis and sepsis are the same, including early goal-directed treatment and antibiotic administration within the first 45 min. Early goal-directed therapy was recently shown not to be superior to standard care; however, these results may not be applicable to settings in which standard care needs improvement. Selection of an appropriate antibiotic for the initial empirical treatment in urosepsis requires knowledge of previous interventions, antibiotic usage, and local resistance rates. Future research on the management of urosepsis should be directed toward identification of groups at risk of developing urosepsis, antibiotic selection, and value of biomarkers in treatment response (eg, lactate, procalcitonin).Patient summaryIn approximately one-third of patients with sepsis, the source of infection is the urinary tract. This review assessed causes and management of urosepsis and directions for future research.