Prulifloxacin is a
fluoroquinolone antibiotic that has been approved in several European countries for the treatment of lower
urinary tract infections and exacerbations of
chronic bronchitis. In this review, PubMed and Scopus databases were searched for potential uses of
prulifloxacin beyond respiratory and
urinary tract infections. Nine individual articles (eight randomised controlled trials and one cohort study) were regarded as eligible for inclusion in the review. Three of the studies were double-blinded, whilst six were open-label trials. Three studies referred to the treatment of patients with
chronic bacterial prostatitis (CBP), one to prophylaxis of patients undergoing transrectal prostate biopsy, one to prophylaxis of women undergoing surgical abortion, two to patients with traveller's diarrhoea, one to diabetic patients with
soft tissue infections or
osteomyelitis, and one to improving tolerance of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) instillations in patients with
bladder cancer. Regarding CBP,
prulifloxacin was non-inferior to its comparators, with a trend towards better microbiological outcomes at follow-up. Regarding traveller's diarrhoea,
prulifloxacin resulted in better clinical and microbiological outcomes compared with placebo. Finally,
prulifloxacin decreased the adverse events associated with BCG instillations in patients with
bladder cancer, without affecting
cancer recurrence rates. In summary,
prulifloxacin appears to be a promising agent for the treatment of bacterial
prostatitis and traveller's diarrhoea.