Development of DEEP-URO, a Generic Research Tool for Enhancing Antimicrobial Stewardship in a Surgical Specialty

<b>Introduction</b>: The appropriate use of antibiotic prophylaxis (AP) in surgical procedures is an ongoing debate. There is a lack of evidence, and urological guidelines provide limited, procedure-specific recommendations. Our aim was to develop a generic model of an audit to define the need for AP in urological procedures, as well as in other surgical specialties. <b>Material and Methods</b>: Based on our experience with the Global Prevalence of Infections in Urology (GPIU) study and a literature review, we defined benchmark standards for 30-day infection rates, including sepsis, and estimated the number of patients needed to be included in a comparative study of AP versus no AP for a surgical procedure within one year. The generic study model was developed during a modified consensus process within the UTISOLVE research group. Urology departments giving and not giving AP were invited to join our development project as an extension of GPIU. <b>Results</b>: Radical prostatectomy was used as a model procedure. Ca. 60 urology centers performing more than 50 radical prostatectomies per year signed up. There was variation in AP practice among sites. Our own review showed that infection rates were ca. 5%, with severe infections, including sepsis, occurring in <0.5% of cases. A sample of 1825 patients would be required to achieve a 95% confidence interval half-width of ±1.0% for general infections. For sepsis, assuming an incidence of 0.5%, a sample of 2124 patients would be needed to reach a 95% confidence interval precision of ±0.30%. Enrollment of 2070 consecutive procedures would be needed to yield precisions of ±0.94% for infection and ±0.30% for sepsis. Based on the number of procedures performed and the number of interested study sites, we agreed on a prospective, multi-center, non-interventional service evaluation, expected to collect standardized data over a 3-month period. The primary outcome was defined as the 30-day incidence of infectious complications. All patients will undergo 30-day post-procedure follow-up through routine clinical care pathways. <b>Conclusions</b>: Our audit model is based on benchmarking of relevant outcomes. It defines how to assess AP in surgical procedures and clarifies a series of issues necessary to defend the status of a generic study model. We regard DEEP-URO to be a comprehensive, multi-center-based initiative that will help balance infection prevention with antimicrobial stewardship and improve the quality of clinical practice and personalized medicine.