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Urinary tract infection (lower) - women - Management
When should I refer a woman with an indwelling catheter and treated for UTI?
- Consider referring for assessment and investigation if the woman fails to respond to two courses of antibiotic shown by urine culture to be appropriate treatment, and compliance has been verified.
- If urological cancer is suspected (for example if haematuria persists after successful treatment of cystitis), refer urgently to a team specializing in the management of urological cancer.
Basis for recommendation
Referral for failure to respond to appropriate antibiotics
- The recommendation to consider referring women who have failed to respond to an appropriate antibiotic (shown by urine culture) is pragmatic, as CKS found no direct evidence from clinical trials or recommendations in national guidelines.
Urgent referral for urological cancer
- The recommendation to refer women with suspected urological cancer is based on criteria in guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) [NICE, 2005b].
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