ABSTRACT

To investigate the isolates of endophthalmitis cases following eye surgery.

130 eyes of 130 patients who had the diagnosis of postoperative endophthalmitis were included in the study. Seventy-four (56.92%) of them were male, 56 (43.08%)of them were female. 80 of them (61.5%) were right eye, 50 of them (38.5%) were left eye. Mean age was 65 (18-85) years. Anterior chamber and vitreus samples were sent to the laboratory for microbiological analysis after inoculation into blood culture bottles.

While 56 of 130 (43.07%) blood culture bottles yielded positive, 74 of 130 (56.92%) remained sterile. Twenty-nine of 56 (51.7%) isolates were gram positive cocci, 21 isolates (37.5%) were gram negative organisms. The most frequently isolated gram positive bacteria were Staphilococcus aureus and most frequent gram negative bacteria were Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Culturing specimens with blood culture bottles may be an alternative to conventional culture media in clinics where adequate microbiology laboratory facilities are not available. Gram negative organisms were more frequently isolated in our series than in the literature.We consider that breaks in the sterilization chain occur more frequently in our country and this issue should be adressed more carefully.

Keywords: Endophthalmitis, isolates, postoperative