National expert consensus on the management of antibiotic prophylaxis in surgical patients with a penicillin allergy label based on the Delphi method.

Background: Patients with a penicillin allergy label have an increased risk of surgical site infection. Although a decision tree was published in 2019 to define which patients could benefit from direct cephalosporin use in the perioperative setting, this strategy remains unvalidated. This consensus statement aimed to adapt it based on an expert consensus to cover persisting caveats and to adapt it to an environment with poor allergist resources.

Methods: Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis and allergy experts were invited to participate. The Delphi method was implemented using an online-secured network. The panellists were given 3 weeks to answer each round. A consensus was reached if more than 75% of the experts rated the item ≥ 7 and if less than 25% rated the item ≤ 3.

Results: Sixteen experts participated. A high level of agreement was obtained after four rounds, defining four categories of the index reaction: unknown, not compatible, or compatible with an immediate or delayed hypersensitivity reaction. Twelve items were defined to stratify the risk of true penicillin allergy according to the index reaction history. The experts agreed that patients with high-risk reactions could benefit from either an allergy work-up or beta-lactam alternatives use. Those at low risk could benefit from direct cephalosporin administration.

Conclusions: This resulted in an adapted decision tree to promote cephalosporin prescription in patients with penicillin allergy labels. It will be used in a stepped-wedge prospective multicentric randomized study to assess its applicability and acceptability to promote first- and second-generation cephalosporin administration in the perioperative period.