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Japanese cataract surgeons report low use of postop intracameral antibiotic injection
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Postoperative intracameral antibiotic injection prevents endophthalmitis better than postoperative topical antibiotics, but the concept is largely unknown among Japanese cataract surgeons, according to a survey.
“The effects of intracameral antibiotic injections administered after surgery were verified by the 2006 Endophthalmitis Surgery Group and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons,” the study authors said. “Since then, this technique has been gaining popularity throughout the Western countries as well. However, we have the impression that there is little supporting evidence for postoperative administration of antibiotics in cataract surgery.”
Questionnaire items from a 2007 report by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery were translated into Japanese and modified. The survey was mailed and personal interviews were conducted between November 2011 and March 2012. Of 378 surgeons in six regions of Japan included in the survey, 285 surgeons (75%) responded.
Study results showed that 282 surgeons (99%) mainly used eye drops 2 to 5 days before surgery; of these, 267 used a new quinolone and 11 used cefuroxime only.
Of the respondents, 255 (89%) used ophthalmic antibiotic ointment; 133 (47%) used antibiotics in forms other than ophthalmic ointment within 6 hours after surgery. Nineteen surgeons (7%) used eye drops, 67 (24%) used antibiotics administered with an irrigation bottle, two (1%) used intracameral injections, and 69 (24%) used subconjunctival injections. Moxifloxacin was administered intracamerally.
Data showed that 75 surgeons (26%) were aware of intracameral injections and 21 (7%) were aware of the ESCRS study; 99 surgeons (35%) were unaware of intracameral injections and 152 (53%) were unaware of the ESCRS study, the authors said.
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