Incidence of endophthalmitis after intravitreal application of anti VEGF therapy at the University Clinical Center in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Abstract

To report the incidence of endophthalmitis following the use of intravitreal injection of anti- vascular endothelial growth factor (anti VEGF) therapy. In this retrospective study a total of 986 intravitreal bevacizumab injections were applied between January 2008 and April 2015 at the University Clinical Center Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Since January 2012, a total of 55 intravitreal ranibizumab injections were applied and since October 2014, 60 intravitreal aflibercept injections were applied to patients. Two cases of endophthalmitis following intravitreal injection of bevaciuzumab occurred and none after ranibizumab or aflibercept. The overall incidence of clinical endophtahlmitis was 0.2%. The results suggest that a low rate of endophthalmitis can be achieved by means of a protocol. This is a very important study as it is the first of this kind in BiH that documents the incidence of endophthalmitis after intravitreal application. Currently, bevacizumab in BiH is most frequently used intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor due to very low price.