Comparison of Preoperative Conjunctival Bacterial Flora in Patients Undergoing Glaucoma or Cataract Surgery

Abstract

Abstract: : Purpose: To assess the difference in conjunctival bacterial flora of patients undergoing glaucoma or cataract surgery. Methods: Conjunctival cultures were obtained via swab in 339 patients undergoing either cataract (N=258) or glaucoma (N=81) surgery. All cultures were obtained 5 days prior to surgery and were inoculated in blood agar, chocolate agar and blood culture broth media. Bacterial isolates were identified and antibiotic susceptibility determined. Results: Overall, 83.3% of samples from cataract surgery patients and 76.5% undergoing glaucoma surgery patients tested positive for bacterial growth (p=0.2246). Several cultures grew multiple bacterial species. The following table shows the proportion of eyes testing positive for each organism in the cataract and glaucoma surgery groups: Conclusions: There was no difference between the two groups in the proportion of samples with positive bacterial growth. With the exception of greater Corynebacterium growth in the cataract surgery group (p=0.0003), there was no significant difference in the types of organisms, which colonized eyes undergoing glaucoma versus cataract surgery. Preoperative bacteria isolated  

Keywords: bacterial disease • microbial pathogenesis: clinical studies • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: treatment/prevention assessment/controlled clinical trials