title: Etiology and diagnosis of bacterial postoperative endophthalmitis.
abstract: It is necessary to determine if postoperative endophthalmitis is of infectious or sterile etiology. Intraocular contents should be cultured and were positive in 50% of 58 eyes tested at our institute with suspected postoperative endophthalmitis. The vitreous aspirate is more sensitive than the anterior chamber aspirate in making a diagnosis. The use of a membrane filter to concentrate vitreous samples obtained at vitrectomy increases diagnostic yield. Fifty percent of culture-positive eyes yielded gram-positive organisms. Stained smears were consistent with the cultured organism in half of the cases.
mesh_terms: D000867:Anterior Chamber / Q000601:surgery; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods; D003470:Culture Media; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation; D006801:Humans; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D013997:Time Factors; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media