Insufficient rate of accrual due to the start of a concomitant similar study

This is a multicenter, prospective, open-label, randomized trial. Patients with severe abdominal condition developing severe sepsis or septic shock and receiving broad spectrum antibiotic and antifungal treatment will be randomized (1:1) to:

1. discontinue antifungal treatment based on negative (<80 pg/ml) result of 1,3 beta-d-glucan performed on day 0,3,6 and 10
2. continue antifungal treatment according with attending physician's decision.

Primary objective:

Our objective is to establish whether a strategy based on beta-d-glucan (BG) assessment could achieve reduced antifungal consumption in patients with severe abdominal condition developing severe sepsis and septic shock without any impact on the outcome Secondary objectives i) Assess the accuracy of BG in the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis (IC) in in critically ill patients with a severe abdominal condition who develop severe sepsis or septic shock.

ii) Describe the changes over the time of BG value according with colonization status, infection or none the aforementioned events.

Material and Methods Study design: a multicenter, open label, randomized trial Population: all the patients with a severe abdominal condition who develop a severe sepsis or septic shock.

1. Inclusion Criteria:

   1. adult (≥ 18 year) patients;
   2. signed informed consent before surgical procedure;
   3. severe sepsis or septic shock;
   4. at least one of the following conditions: i) post-operative peritonitis, ii) recurrent gastrointestinal perforation, iii) post-operative hepatobiliary and/or pancreatic disorders including necrotizing pancreatitis, iv) post-operative intra-abdominal abscess, and v) anastomotic leak.

2. Exclusion criteria a. diagnosis of candidiasis before the enrollment b. exposure in the past 30 days to any antifungal treatment or diagnosis of invasive fungal infection; c. pregnancy or lactation; d. history of allergy to any of the antifungal drugs; e. major immunosuppression conditions including: i. neutropenia (<0.5 × 109 neutrophils/L [<500 neutrophils/mm3] for >10 days), ii. receipt of an allogeneic stem cell transplant or solid organ transplantation, iii. inherited severe immunodeficiency (such as chronic granulomatous disease or severe combined immunodeficiency), iv. HIV infection with lymphocyte T CD4+ cell count < 200/mmc. f. patients with poor prognosis or unable to sign informed consent.

Procedures Pre-randomization procedures

At the time of patient enrollment (within 24 h from onset of severe sepsis/septic shock), a standardized diagnostic work-up must be performed including at least:

i) two sets of blood cultures; ii) 5 surveillance cultures (rectal swab, urine culture, pharyngeal swab, axillary swab, groin swab).

iii) in case of re-intervention or percutaneous drainage: Gram stain and culture of intra-abdominal samples; iv) serum BG determination. Antibiotic and antifungal empirical therapy should be started immediately after collection of microbiological samples according with a predefined standard of care (see appendix 1). Once completed this procedures patients will proceed to randomization.

Randomization Patient eligible for the study after the beginning of antifungal therapy will be randomized 1:1 to receive (Group A) a BG driven de-escalation strategy or (Group B) a course of antifungal treatment based on the care provider's decision.

In both groups, if cultures yield invasive candidiasis (see below) the patient will be managed in according with guidelines and excluded from the per-protocol analysis.

In both groups, BG determination will be repeated at day +3, +6 and +10 after starting antifungal therapy.

Randomization will be carried out providing closed envelopes to the participating centers immediately before the study onset.

Inclusion Criteria:

• a. adult (≥ 18 year) patients; b. signed informed consent before surgical procedure; c. severe sepsis or septic shock; d. at least one of the following conditions: i) post-operative peritonitis, ii) recurrent gastrointestinal perforation, iii) post-operative hepatobiliary and/or pancreatic disorders including necrotizing pancreatitis, iv) post-operative intra-abdominal abscess, and v) anastomotic leak.

Exclusion Criteria:

• a. diagnosis of candidiasis before the enrollment b. exposure in the past 30 days to any antifungal treatment or diagnosis of invasive fungal infection; c. pregnancy or lactation; d. history of allergy to any of the antifungal drugs; e. major immunosuppression conditions including: i. neutropenia (<0.5 × 109 neutrophils/L [<500 neutrophils/mm3] for >10 days), ii. receipt of an allogeneic stem cell transplant or solid organ transplantation, iii. inherited severe immunodeficiency (such as chronic granulomatous disease or severe combined immunodeficiency), iv. HIV infection with lymphocyte T CD4+ cell count < 200/mmc. f. patients with poor prognosis or unable to sign informed consent.

Care provider will be blinded to result of BG in patients enrolled in the standard of care arm