Treatment strategies and visual acuity outcomes in chronic postoperative propionibacterium acnes endophthalmitis

Purpose: To report the treatment strategies and visual acuity outcomes of c hronic postoperative endophthalmitis caused by Propionibacterium acnes. Design: Retrospective noncomparative case series. Participants: All patients presenting 8 or more weeks after cataract surger y with intraocular inflammation caused by culture-proven P. acnes infection and treated at two institutions from 1974 through 1996 were included, Methods: Patients underwent three different initial treatment strategies. T he study did not have a defined treatment protocol, but all patients receiv ed intraocular antibiotics. Patients were not randomly assigned to the vari ous treatment strategies. Main Outcome Measures: Final visual acuity and effectiveness of various tre atment procedures either as initial or follow-up therapy were assessed. Results: Using the 3 initial strategies, 36 patients were treated: (1) intr aocular antibiotic injection alone (IOAB; n = 12); (2) pars plana vitrectom y and IOAB injection (PPV; n = 10); and (3) PPV with subtotal capsulectomy and IOAB injection (PPV-PC; n = 14). The number of patients with recurrent or persistent inflammation after one of the three initial treatment strateg ies were as follows: (I) IOAB alone, 12 (100%); (2) PPV, 5 (50%); and (3) P PV-PC, 2 (14%), None of the patients that underwent subsequent PPV, total c apsular bag removal, IOAB injection, and either intraocular lens (IOL) exch ange or removal had persistent or recurrent intraocular inflammation. Overa ll, final visual acuity was 20/40 or better in 18 patients (50%), and a tot al of 28 patients (78%) retained 20/400 or better vision. The mean follow-u p after the last treatment was 2.9 years. Conclusions: In this series of chronic P. acnes endophthalmitis, initial tr eatment with IOAB injection alone or vitrectomy without capsulectomy was as sociated with high rates of recurrent or persistent intraocular inflammatio n. Pars plana vitrectomy, partial capsulectomy, and IOAB injection without IOL exchange was usually successful on long-term follow-up. In patients wit h recurrent intraocular inflammation, pars plana vitrectomy, total capsular bag removal, IOAB injection, and IOL exchange or removal was a uniformly s uccessful strategy. In contrast to other types of postoperative endophthalm itis, IOL exchange can be considered in these patients after total capsular bag removal.