A new study of U.S. Medicare patients published in the Journal of Urology concludes that having a prostate biopsy doubles the risks of hospitalization for varied infections and medical complications within a month of the procedure.

Among the causes for hospitalizations are complications from procedure like bleeding, infection and aggravation of other conditions.

Prostate biopsy is an important diagnosis tool for prostate disorders like cancers.

"Prostate biopsy is an essential procedure for detecting prostate cancer. Couple with appropriate screening, prostate biopsies save lives," wrote Edward Schaeffer, a professor of at John Hopkins Univbersity.

Like many diagnosis procedures, prostate biopsy has its own risks.

"However it is important for men to be aware of the possible risks of prostate biopsies, which are often described as simple outpatient procedures," Schaeffer continued, highlighting the need to make thorough evaluation of the need for biopsy and to prepare measures to reduce risks of complications.

Researchers reviewed the Medicare records of 17,472 men with average age of 73 who had had prostate biopsies, and 134,977 matched controls chosen randomly. The researchers made a comparison of hospitalization rates between these two groups and found that 2.9 per cent risk for hospitalization was seen on the match controls, while 6.9 per cent was seen on men who had biopsies.

The figure did not include men with prostate cancers seeking for treatment. It was exclusive to biopsy, which primarily caused hospitalizations.

Dr. Stacey Loeb, a professor of urology at New York University and the lead author of the study, explained the need to be vigilant.

"Patients having a biopsy should have a full discussion about recent antibiotic use, recent hospitalization and anything else that might put them at risk for having resistant organisms. But if you are an otherwise healthy man who would benefit from treatment, you should not be afraid to have a biopsy."