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One-quarter of intravitreal injection needles culture positive in study
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WAILEA, Hawaii — The rate of culture positivity for needles used in routine intravitreal injections was 26%, according to the interim results of a prospective study presented here.
The study was undertaken to elucidate the mechanism of bacterial entry into the eye, particularly in cases of endophthalmitis, a rare but serious complication of intravitreal injections.
"The inoculation is probably happening right around the time of the injection or shortly thereafter," Jay M. Stewart, MD, said at the American Society of Retina Specialists annual meeting.
After intravitreal injection of Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech) or off-label Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech) in 66 patients following standard povidone-iodine preparation of the ocular surface, conjunctival cultures were obtained. The intravitreal injection was then administered, and the needle was separated from the syringe and collected in a culture tube. Seventeen of the 66 needles were culture positive.
Control needles exposed to room air were also sent for culture. Four of 66 control needles were culture positive.
The researchers intend to enroll 110 patients at seven centers to give more power to the study.