Fungal Endophthalmitis after Intravitreal Injections of Triamcinolone Contaminated by a Compounding Pharmacy: Five-Year Follow-up of 23 Patients.

PURPOSE: To report the 5-year outcome of an outbreak of Bipolaris hawaiiensis fungal endophthalmitis caused by contamination of intravitreal triamcinolone from Franck's Compounding Pharmacy in Ocala, Florida.

DESIGN

Retrospective case series.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty-three patients (n = 25 eyes).

METHODS

Data was collected from the practice of a single retina specialist in Los Angeles (K.W.S) and a retina practice in New York City. Intravitreal injections of triamcinolone obtained from a single lot were subsequently found to be contaminated with Bipolaris hawaiiensis.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Visual acuity; presence of vitreous cells, anterior chamber cells, or both; and detection of fungi or fungal elements in samples obtained by vitreous needle aspiration or vitreous biopsy.

RESULTS

Fungal endophthalmitis developed in 92% (23/25) of eyes. Despite aggressive local and systemic long-term therapy, severe visual loss resulted in the majority of treated eyes and the enucleated eyes showed evidence of hyphae.

CONCLUSIONS

These reported cases of Bipolaris hawaiiensis endophthalmitis provide important messages for clinicians and regulatory agencies. First, patients treated with high-dose, long-term, orally administered voriconazole appeared to achieve better outcomes in treatment of Bipolaris endophthalmitis. Second, treated eyes may still show signs of deterioration, indicating the potential survival of causative organisms or fibrosis encapsulating the ciliary body, leading to hypotony. Third, several parallels can be drawn between this outbreak and the fungal meningitis outbreak after Exserohilum rostratum contamination of methylprednisolone by the New England Compounding Center.