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U.K. ophthalmologists vary in post-cataract surgery infection prophylaxis
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Ophthalmologists in the United Kingdom use a wide variety of prophylactic measures to prevent infection following cataract surgery, a survey shows.
Ghee Soon Ang, MRCOphth, and colleagues at the Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, Scotland, conducted the cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey focusing on approaches for preventing endophthalmitis following cataract surgery.
The researchers sent the questionnaire to consultant ophthalmic surgeons practicing at 36 university teaching hospital ophthalmology departments in the U.K.
Of the 391 surgeons surveyed, 215 responded (55%), 11 of whom did not perform cataract surgery. The remaining 204 respondents all routinely performed phacoemulsification.
The most common prophylactic measure included use of povidone iodine immediately postoperatively, which was reported by 203 respondents (99.5%). Other postoperative measures included subconjunctival antibiotics (usually cefuroxime), which was reported by 138 respondents (67.6%); intracameral antibiotics, reported by 33 respondents (16.2%); and topical antibiotics (usually neomycin), reported by 141 respondents (69.1%), according to the study.
Preoperative topical antibiotics were routinely used by 12 respondents (5.9%), and 19 respondents (9.3%) used an intraoperative antibiotic infusion. No respondents routinely used systemic antibiotics either pre- or postoperatively, the authors noted.
“The routine practices adopted reflect personal preferences, and were not necessarily evidence-based,” the authors said in the study. “Further prospective studies are required to provide evidence for the efficacy of these prophylaxis techniques.”
The study was published in the May-June issue of the European Journal of Ophthalmology.