Combined pars plana vitrectomy and silicone oil injection for the treatment of acute postoperative infectious endophthalmitis.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of early pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and silicone oil (SO) tamponade for treating acute post-phacoemulsification infectious endophthalmitis.

Methods: This retrospective study included 44 eyes of 44 patients who developed early endophthalmitis after uneventful phacoemulsification. PPV with SO tamponade was performed within 24 h of presentation.

Results: A significant improvement in logMAR visual acuity (VA) was reported in our patients; (2.595 ± 0.249 at baseline compared to 1.052 ± 0.462 at final visit), with P value 0.0001. SO was removed in all cases after 4-9 months (6 ± 1.3) and all patients continued follow-up for at least 6 months after SO removal (15.4 ± 6.5). Postoperative complications included; three eyes (6.8%) developing severe proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), four eyes (9.1%) developing inferior retinal detachment (RD) under SO, Two eyes (4.5%) developing pupillary block glaucoma and two eyes (4.5%) suffered from recurrent RD after SO removal.

Conclusion: Early PPV with SO tamponade for the treatment of acute endophthalmitis after phacoemulsification has good visual outcomes and lower complication rates if performed early within 24 h of patient presentation.