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Topical anesthesia may play factor in endophthalmitis, study finds

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MELBOURNE, Australia — Techniques used to apply topical anesthesia during temporal clear corneal cataract extraction may play a role in the development of endophthalmitis, according to a study.

Mark F. Ellis, FRANZCO, retrospectively reviewed 219 patients who had cataract surgery with topical anesthesia and 414 who received cataract surgery with retrobulbar injection. Four patients who underwent topical anesthesia developed endophthalmitis in the first postoperative week. One complicated case where retrobulbar anesthesia was used developed endophthalmitis in the second postop week. All patients who developed endophthalmitis grew Staphylococcus epidermidis. Once the surgeon changed techniques to perform cataract surgery using solely retrobulbar anesthesia, the next 453 cases incurred no endophthalmitis.

The study is published in the April issue of Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology.