Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate visual outcomes and clinical features of endophthalmitis secondary to pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) or intravitreal injection (IVI).
Methods :
Seventy-three patients were included in a single-center retrospective study conducted at Austin Retina Associates analyzing acute post-procedure endophthalmitis over a span of 8 years (2015-2022). The change in visual acuity (VA) from baseline to three months and six months post-endophthalmitis was compared between the post-IVI and post-PPV groups.
Results :
Of the 73 total cases analyzed, 63 cases of acute endophthalmitis occurred following IVI and 10 cases occurred following PPV. The average age of patients in the IVI cohort was 74.1 years and the average age of patients in the PPV cohort was 67.8 years (p=0.41). Time to presentation of endophthalmitis symptoms after IVI was 3.2 days and time to presentation of symptoms after PPV was 3.9 days (p=0.64). Of 63 post-IVI cases, 22 cases (34.9%) had visual acuity of 20/200 or worse at 3 months and 19 cases (30.2%) remained 20/200 or worse at 6 months. Of 10 post-PPV cases, 5 cases (50%) had visual acuity of 20/200 or worse at 3 months and all 5 remained in this range at 6 months. There was no significant difference in visual outcomes between the post-IVI and post-PPV endophthalmitis cases at 3 months (p=0.30) or 6 months (p=0.47) post infection.
Conclusions :
Post-procedural endophthalmitis continues to pose a challenge with over one-third of patients having visual acuity of 20/200 or worse at 6 months after infection. We found no significant difference in time to presentation or visual outcomes in endophthalmitis cases following IVI and PPV, indicating that there may not be significant procedure-specific factors leading to earlier onset of disease or poorer visual outcomes.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.