Endophthalmitis associated with intravitreal injections of Anti-VEGF agents at a tertiary referral center: In-house and referred cases

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To report the incidence rates, causative organisms, and visual acuity (VA) outcomes in patients with endophthalmitis associated with intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective case series between 2005 and 2017. RESULTS: The study included 39 eyes of 39 patients, including 27 (69%) referred and 12 (31%) institutional patients. The use of topical antibiotics after an injection was gradually phased out at the authors’ institution, where the preinjection rate of all clinically suspected endophthalmitis was 0.013% (24 of 183,898). The most common isolates were coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. A VA of 5/200 or better was achieved in 21 of 39 eyes (54%) overall and in two of 15 eyes (13%) infected with Streptococcus. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of post-intravitreal injection endophthalmitis is low. Outcomes were generally poor, and the worst were associated with Streptococcus.