Clinical characteristics and management outcome of acute infectious endophthalmitis

Purpose This study aimed to investigate the demographics, clinical characteristics, and management outcomes of patients with acute infectious endophthalmitis (AIE). Methods This retrospective chart review was conducted on all patients admitted with the clinical diagnosis of infectious endophthalmitis from 2017 to 2022. Demographic data, patients’ clinical characteristics, the type of acute infectious endophthalmitis (post-operative, post-traumatic, bleb-associated, and endogenous endophthalmitis), the type of surgical procedure in the post-operative cases, the microbiologic analysis results of vitreous samples, therapeutic measures, and visual outcomes of patients were recorded. Results In this study, 182 participants, including 122 male (67%) and 60 (33%) female, were involved. The mean age of patients was 54.56 ± 21 years, with a range of 1–88 years old. The most prevalent type of AIE was post-operative (59.9%), followed by endogenous (19.2%), post-traumatic (17%), and bleb-associated (3.8%). The most common type of intraocular surgery in the post-operative subgroups of AIE patients was phacoemulsification (57.8%). The median (interquartile range) of the primary and final BCVA of patients was 1.5 (1.35, 1.85) and 0.65 (0.35, 1.35), respectively. Vitreous haziness grade (OR, 2.89; 95% CI, 1.11–5.74; p = 0.009) and the primary VA (OR, 60.34; 95% CI, 2.87–126.8; p = 0.008) revealed statistical significance for final vision loss. Conclusion AIE is a devastating condition with poor visual outcomes, which presents with acute inflammatory signs and symptoms regardless of its type. However, prompt and appropriate treatment leads to visual recovery to a functional level in many patients.