Algorithm for Suspected Penicillin Allergy in Patients Undergoing Surgery • Cephalosporins may be prescribed to patients with reported penicillin allergy if physicians use the clinical decision support algorithm below. • If the reaction to penicillin occurred more than 10 years ago, the likelihood of a reaction to a cephalosporin is low due to diminished lgE levels. • Only 10% of all patients who report a penicillin allergy are diagnosed as skin-test positive: Of those who are skin-test positive, there is only a 2% cross-reactivity rate with cephalosporins for patients who have a true penicillin allergy 2 (i.e. 0.2% of all patients reporting allergy). • Overall there is less than a 1 in 100,000 risk of anaphylaxis with a cephalosporin in patients reporting a penicillin allergy. #Penicillin #Allergy #Surgery #Algorithm #Perioperative #Preoperative #Management #Protocol
