Purpose: To elucidate the Chinese practice of intraocular antibiotics administration for prophylaxis after open globe injury.
Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was performed online by scanning a Quickmark (QR) code with smartphones at the 20th Chinese National Conference of Ocular Trauma in November 2014.
Results: A total of 153 (30.6%) of all participators at the conference responded. Of the respondents, 20.9% were routinely administered with prophylactic intraocular injection of antibiotics at the conclusion of the primary eye repair, and 56.9% were used only in cases with high risk of endophthalmitis development. The intraocular route of delivery was mainly included with intracameral injection (47.9%) and intravitreal injection (42.0%). Cephalosporins (53.8%) and vancomycin (42.0%) were the main choices of antibiotic agents, followed by fluoroquinolones (24.3%), and aminoglycosides (13.4%). Only 21.9% preferred a combination of two or more two drugs routinely. In addition, significantly more respondents from the referral eye hospital (92.7%) replied using intraocular antibiotics injection for prophylaxis compared to those respondents from the primary hospital (69.4%) (p = 0.001, Fisher's exact test).
Conclusions: Intraocular antibiotics injection for post-traumatic endophthalmitis prophylaxis is widely used in China. However, the choice of antibiotic agents and the intraocular route of delivery vary. A well-designed clinical trial is needed to establish a standardized protocol of intraocular antibiotics administration for post-traumatic endophthalmitis prophylaxis.