The challenge of determining aqueou contamination rate in anterior egment intraocular urgery

Purpoe To determine aqueou contamination rate in anterior egment intraocular urgery uing two different technique of obtaining aqueou fluid and to ae whether a 3-day application of topical 0.3% ofloxacin reduce thi contamination rate compared with a 1-hour application. Deign Randomized clinical trial. Method One hundred and thirty-three eye of 130 patient undergoing anterior egment intraocular urgery were randomized to either control (64 eye received topical ofloxacin 1 hour before urgery) or tudy group (69 eye received topical ofloxacin four time a day for 3 day before urgery in addition to 1 hour preoperatively). Eye in both group received a periorbital iodine crub and two drop of topical 5% iodine. Aqueou fluid wa obtained at the beginning and concluion of urgery uing a cannula paed through a paracentei or a needle paed through clear cornea. The aqueou, cannula, and needle were inoculated in blood culture media broth and bacterial growth wa identified. Reult Overall, eight of 89 aqueou ample (9%) obtained uing a cannula at the beginning of urgery were culture-poitive. imilarly, ix of 41 aqueou ample (15%) obtained through a needle through clear cornea at the beginning of urgery howed contamination. At the concluion of urgery, nine of 112 ample (8%) howed poitive culture. There wa no difference in the aqueou contamination rate between the control and tudy group. Concluion Depite the ue of a needle to obtain aqueou fluid at the beginning of urgery before creating a paracentei, the aqueou contamination rate remained higher than that found at the concluion of urgery. A 3-day application of topical ofloxacin before urgery did not reduce the anterior chamber aqueou contamination rate relative to a 1-hour application.