Incidence of endophthalmitis after cataract surgery (2002-2008) at a Brazilian university-hospital.

PURPOSE To report on the incidence, diagnostic technique, and microbiological features of endophthalmitis at a university-setting in Brazil. METHODS All cases of presumed postoperative endophthalmitis from 2002 to 2008 at a teaching-hospital were included. Main data assessed were: number of cataract surgeries performed, incidence of endophthalmitis, microbiological outcome (aqueous and/or vitreous culture and Gram staining), and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the positive cases. RESULTS Seventy-three eyes of 73 patients (43 females and 30 males) developed endophthalmitis after 24,590 cataract surgeries. The incidence decreased from 0.49% in 2003 to 0.17% in 2006 and stabilized afterwards. Coagulase negative Staphylococci (CoNS) and Streptococcus viridans (56.5% and 15%, respectively) were the most common bacterial isolates. Culture and Gram stain were negative in 36.9%. CoNS presented susceptibility rates of 80%-sensitivity to oxacillin, 90% to fourth-generation quinolones and 100% to vancomycin. CONCLUSIONS The rate of endophthalmitis, diagnostic ability of conventional laboratory investigation, microbial isolates and antibiotic susceptibility are in accordance with other findings of the literature. Despite using prophylactic antibiotic drops, it was possible to identify cases that were susceptible to the antibiotics topically applied.