Assessment of the Applicability and Acceptability of an Algorithm to Guide the Prescription of 1st and 2nd Generation Cephalosporins as Part of Intraoperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Patients With a Declared Allergy to Penicillin

NCT ID: NCT06067919

Last Updated: 2025-08-24

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 275 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-10-09
• Study Completion Date: 2025-05-20

Brief Summary

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a surgical site infection (SSI) is an infection that occurs after surgery at the site where the surgery was performed. The prevalence of SSIs is difficult to obtain and is probably underestimated, as many SSIs occur after the patient has been discharged from hospital and are not taken into account. SSIs are responsible for an increase in length of stay, mortality and costs. Their prevention is therefore essential in the operating theater, and has been the subject of recommendations recently updated by the CDC. The first line of prevention is the administration of prophylaxis antibiotic adapted to the surgical procedure, administered within a specific timeframe in order to achieve an effective bactericidal concentration in the tissues at the time of the surgical incision. In France, in the United States and for the WHO, the recommended first line of antibiotic prophylaxis is most often an agent from the beta-lactam family, a penicillin or a cephalosporin, with the exception of ophthalmological surgery. No strategy is described for the management of patients with a reported allergy to penicillin, apart from the recommendation of therapeutic alternatives.

The use of a decision-making strategy in the operating theater for patients with a reported allergy to penicillin therefore appears necessary and is recommended by experts. In the intraoperative context, the application of a strategy would make it possible to guide the use of cephalosporins, without removing the "penicillin allergy" label from the patient, but by proposing an alternative via the use of a cephalosporin depending on the probability of the risk of a real allergy to penicillin, according to the description of the former reaction.

Detailed Description

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a surgical site infection (SSI) is an infection that occurs after surgery at the site where the surgery was performed. The prevalence of SSIs is difficult to obtain and is probably underestimated, as many SSIs occur after the patient has been discharged from hospital and are not taken into account. SSIs are responsible for an increase in length of stay, mortality and costs. Their prevention is therefore essential in the operating theater, and has been the subject of recommendations recently updated by the CDC. The first line of prevention is the administration of prophylaxis antibiotic adapted to the surgical procedure, administered within a specific timeframe in order to achieve an effective bactericidal concentration in the tissues at the time of the surgical incision. In France, in the United States and for the WHO, the recommended first line of antibiotic prophylaxis is most often an agent from the beta-lactam family, a penicillin or a cephalosporin, with the exception of ophthalmological surgery. No strategy is described for the management of patients with a reported allergy to penicillin, apart from the recommendation of therapeutic alternatives.

The use of a decision-making strategy in the operating theater for patients with a reported allergy to penicillin therefore appears necessary and is recommended by experts. In the intraoperative context, the application of a strategy would make it possible to guide the use of cephalosporins, without removing the "penicillin allergy" label from the patient, but by proposing an alternative via the use of a cephalosporin depending on the probability of the risk of a real allergy to penicillin, according to the description of the former reaction.

The main objective is to assess the impact on first and second generation cephalosporins prescription rate of a decision tree designed to guide the prescription of first and second generation cephalosporins in patients with a self-reported allergy to penicillin.

Conditions

Adult Patients Who Declare an Allergy to Penicillin During Anaesthetic Consultation Without Any Allergy Work up That Could Confirm This Declaration; Good Comprehension of French Language

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: SEQUENTIAL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

usual care

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

use of a decision tree to guide antibiotic prophylaxis prescription

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

decision tree for the choice of intraoperative antibiotic prophylaxis

Intervention Type: OTHER

Presentation of a decision tree to anaesthetists to guide the choice of intraoperative antibiotic prophylaxis

Interventions

decision tree for the choice of intraoperative antibiotic prophylaxis

Presentation of a decision tree to anaesthetists to guide the choice of intraoperative antibiotic prophylaxis

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Age >= 18 years;
• Patients with a good French understanding
• Who declare themselves allergic to penicillin and who have not benefit from an allergy work-up to explore their allergies and possible therapeutic alternatives;
• Requiring antibiotic prophylaxis with either first or second generation cephalosporins for elective or emergency surgery.

Exclusion Criteria

• Refusal to sign informed consent
• Patient under legal protection ;
• Pregnant women;
• Patient scheduled for surgery requiring first-line antibiotic prophylaxis with an agent other than first and second generation cephalosporins (such as amoxicillin/clavulanate or vancomycin) according to the recommendations of the French Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care (SFAR) in one of the investigating centres;
• Patient declaring an allergy to antibiotics other than penicillins.
• Not affiliated to a social security scheme

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Mouna Ben Rehouma

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

Locations

Bichat hospital

Paris, , France

Countries

France

Other Identifiers

APHP220837

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id