gms | German Medical Science

Endophthalmitis is a serious complication of cataract surgery and many other ocular surgeries that every ophthalmic surgeon – and patient – strives to avoid.

Use of intracameral cefuroxime at the end of surgery reduced the occurrence of postoperative endophthalmitis. Additional risk factors associated with endophthalmitis after cataract surgery included CCIs and the use of silicone IOLs.

The diagnosis of postoperative endophthalmitis is considered a medical emergency requiring investigation and treatment within an hour of presentation, especially in severe cases.

The EVS recommended performing a vitrectomy onlyin cases presenting with visual acuity of light perception (LP) only. However, with technical advances in vitrectomy,more recent retrospective series have shown better visual outcomes with broader use of a full vitrectomy in postoperative endophthalmitis cases, including those presenting with better than LP visual acuity.