ENDOGENOUS ENDOPHTHALMITIS IN THE KOREAN POPULATION A Six-Year Retrospective Study

Purpose: To identify the clinical features, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors of endogenous endophthalmitis in multiple tertiary referral centers of South Korea over a 6-year period. Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective review of medical records of 57 eyes of 43 patients diagnosed with endogenous endophthalmitis from January 2005 to December 2011, which was referred to tertiary referral centers. Results: Fifty-seven cases of 43 patients were followed for a mean of 18.7 months (range, 0.5-50 months). The common underlying diseases were diabetes mellitus (46.5%) and liver cirrhosis (20.93%). Liver abscess (39.5%) was the most common infection source. Among prognostic factors, the initial visual acuity was associated with favorable visual outcome significantly (P < 0.001). Endogeneous endophthalmitis with gram-negative bacteria had worse visual outcomes than gram-positive bacteria or fungus (P = 0.014). Conclusion: Similar to the findings of previous East Asian studies, this study showed that Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most common causative organism of endogenous endophthalmitis and liver abscess was the most common infection focus. Although endogenous endophthalmitis is generally associated with poor visual acuity outcomes, the prognosis depends mainly on the initial visual acuity and the pathogen.