title: [Épico project: Development of educational recommendations using the DELPHI technique on invasive candidiasis in non-neutropenic critically ill adult patients. Grupo Proyecto Épico].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although there has been an improved management of invasive candidiasis in the last decade, controversial issues still remain, especially in the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We sought to identify the core clinical knowledge and to achieve high level agreement recommendations required to care for critically ill adult patients with invasive candidiasis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective Spanish survey reaching consensus by the DELPHI technique was made. It was anonymously conducted by electronic mail in a first term to 25 national multidisciplinary experts in invasive fungal infections from five national scientific societies, including intensivists, anesthesiologists, microbiologists, pharmacologists and infectious diseases specialists, who answered to 47 questions prepared by a coordination group after a strict review of the literature in the last five years. The educational objectives spanned five categories, including epidemiology, diagnostic tools, prediction rules, and treatment and de-escalation approaches. The level of agreement achieved among the panel experts in each item should exceed 75% to be selected. In a second term, after extracting recommendations from the selected items, a face to face meeting was performed where more than 80 specialists in a second round were invited to validate the preselected recommendations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the first term, 20 recommendations were preselected (Epidemiology 4, Scores 3, Diagnostic tools 4, Treatment 6 and De-escalation approaches 3). After the second round, the following 12 were validated: (1) Epidemiology (2 recommendations): think about candidiasis in your Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and do not forget that non-Candida albicans-Candida species also exist. (2) Diagnostic tools (4 recommendations): blood cultures should be performed under suspicion every 2-3 days and, if positive, every 3 days until obtaining the first negative result. Obtain sterile fluid and tissue, if possible (direct examination of the sample is important). Use non-culture based methods as microbiological tools, whenever possible. Determination of antifungal susceptibility is mandatory. (3) Scores (1 recommendation): as screening tool, use the Candida Score and determine multicolonization in high risk patients. (4) Treatment (4 recommendations): start early. Choose echinocandins. Withdraw any central venous catheter. Fundoscopy is needed. (5) De-escalation (1 recommendation): only applied when knowing susceptibility determinations and after 3 days of clinical stability. The higher rate of agreement was achieved in the optimization of microbiological tools and the withdrawal of the catheter, whereas the lower rate corresponded to de-escalation therapy and the use of scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The management of invasive candidiasis in ICU patients requires the application of a broad range of knowledge and skills that we summarize in our recommendations. These recommendations may help to identify the potential patients, standardize their global management and improve their outcomes, based on the DELPHI methodology.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitario Dr. Peset, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: zaragozar@ono.com.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zaragoza
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Llinares
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maseda
authors.forename: Ricard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ferrer
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002175:Candida / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification; D058365:Candidiasis, Invasive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods*; D003697:Delphi Technique; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D054714:Echinocandins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009172:Mycology / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D054714:Echinocandins
keywords: Candidiasis invasiva; DELPHI technique; Educational project; Invasive candidiasis; Metodología DELPHI; Non-neutropenic critically ill patients; Pacientes no neutropénicos en estado crítico; Proyecto educativo; Recomendaciones; Recommendations