Purpose: To investigate the utility of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in identifying the pathogens in endophthalmitis.
Methods: In this prospective study, 36 cases of endophthalmitis were recruited. All patients received surgical treatment and intraocular drug lavage. The samples of vitreous or aqueous humor were extracted for mNGS and microbiological culture. The diagnostic performance of pathogens was compared between mNGS and culture.
Results: The positive rates of mNGS and culture were 88.89% (32/36) and 27.78% (10/36), respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between mNGS and culture (Chi-square = 27.657; P < 0.01). Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the most pathogenic bacteria in traumatic, postoperative, and endogenous endophthalmitis, respectively. The concordance of pathogen identified by mNGS and culture was 70% for culture-positive cases. Antibiotic resistance genes were identified in 9 cases. There was a marginal correlation between the final visual acuity and the microbial sequence read (Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.498; P = 0.05).
Conclusion: Metagenomic next-generation sequencing has a higher positive rate of identifying pathogens in endophthalmitis than in culture. It can also provide information on antibiotic resistance and visual prognosis. However, caution must be taken when interpreting the results of mNGS because they may not be concordant with culture.