TREATMENT OF ENDOPHTHALMITIS

Postoperative endophthalmitis is still a disastrous complication, desp ite major advances in ophthalmology. To identify possible risk factors , a retrospective review was made of all cases of endophthalmitis afte r elective intraocular surgery during a 13-year-period in a large gene ral hospital. The incidence was found to be 0.016% (11/5,691 cases) wi th a 6:5 female-to-male ratio and a mean time interval of 2.7 (+/-5.44 ) months postsurgery in cataract cases. No ocular or systemic conditio n and not specific topical therapy were found to predispose to the inf ection. The same was true for extra vs. intracapsular cataract extract ion (ECCE vs. ICCE). Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most frequentl y cultured organism, and the cultures were negative in 45.45% of cases , reflecting the tedious nature of culturing organisms. Finally, the v isual acuity was no better in vitrectomized vs medically treated eyes, and the cases diagnosed early ended up with a relatively better visua l outcome. This article presents the results and the guidelines for th e treatment of endophthalmitis.