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Intracameral cefuroxime and/or subconjunctival cefuroxime in cataract surgery in the presence of reported Penicillin allergy. What is the incidence of real anaphylaxis?

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First Author: U.Arain UK

Co Author(s):    A. Nestel                    

Abstract Details

Purpose:

2nd generations cephalosporin’s are unlikely to be associated with cross reactivity to penicillin (Pegler and Healy BMJ 2007). Yet there is a proportion of surgeons that world not administer intracameral cefuroxime or subconjunctival cefuroxime in the presence of a reported penicillin allergy. IC cefuroxime provides a 5-fold protection against Endophthalmitis (Barry P). Hence it would be of interest to audit the incidence of anaphylaxis in those patients where IC cefuroxime, subconj cefuroxime or both were given in the presence of a penicillin allergy.

Setting:

North Devon District Hospital, Barsntaple, UK

Methods:

Patients were divided into 3 groups. 1. Group A: allergic to penicillin and received IC cefuroxime. 2. Group B: Allergic to penicillin and received subconjunctival cefuroxime. 3. Group C: Allergic to penicillin and received both. 1052 patients were identified via EPR who had penicillin allergy and cataract surgery. Timeframe was from 1st Feb 2008- 1st Feb 2016.

Results:

No post-operative anaphylaxis was observed.

Conclusions:

Intracameral and S/C cefuroxime during cataract surgery were well-tolerated in penicillin-allergic patients in this patient cohort.

Financial Disclosure:

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