This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Intraocular antibiotics prevented posttraumatic endophthalmitis in study
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Intraocular injections containing the antibiotics gentamicin sulfate and clindamycin effectively prevented the development of bacterial endophthalmitis in eyes that sustained penetrating injuries, a prospective study found. In particular, eyes with a retained intraocular foreign body benefited from treatment, the study authors noted.
Masoud Soheilian, MD, and colleagues conducted a double-masked, controlled trial involving 346 eyes at several centers in Iran to evaluate the efficacy of intraocular antibiotic injections for preventing acute posttraumatic endophthalmitis.
Investigators randomly assigned 179 eyes to either intracameral or intravitreal antibiotic injections containing 40 µg of gentamicin sulfate and 45 µg of clindamycin. A control group of 167 eyes were injected with balanced salt solution, according to the study.
Endophthalmitis developed within 2 weeks postop in eight eyes (2.3%) in the control group, compared to one eye (0.3%) in the study group.
"The odds ratio of developing posttraumatic endophthalmitis in the control group was 8.93 times higher than treated eyes," the authors said.
A significant association was also noted between endophthalmitis and the presence of an intraocular foreign body (IOFB). Specifically, endophthalmitis developed in seven of 25 control eyes with an IOFB and in none of 27 antibiotic-treated eyes with an IOFB, according to the study.
"[In] eyes without an IOFB, the rate of endophthalmitis was similar in cases and controls," the authors said.
The study is published in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.