title: Practice patterns of ophthalmologists administering intravitreal injections in Europe: a longitudinal survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was performed to understand the practice patterns of ophthalmologists administering intravitreal (IVT) injections in Europe after the procedure became routine.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of a prospective, multinational, non-interventional cohort study in 13 countries in Europe between 2006 and 2012, ophthalmologists completed the Baseline Questionnaire and the Follow-up Questionnaire 1 year after baseline.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Of the 125 ophthalmologists who participated in the study, 113 (90.4%) completed the Baseline Questionnaire. Most of these ophthalmologists were medical retina specialists (43.0%). The median number of IVT injections that the ophthalmologists performed per month during the year prior to completing the Baseline Questionnaire was 20.0. The majority of the ophthalmologists had performed their last IVT injection prior to completing the questionnaire in an operating room or theater (68.4%). When performing IVT injections, a majority of the ophthalmologists reported applying povidone-iodine (90.4%) before IVT injections and topical antibiotics right after IVT injections (89.5%). In addition, 81.6% of the ophthalmologists reported using a sterile adhesive eye drape and 80.7% reported using an eyelid speculum. In all, 95 ophthalmologists (76%) completed the Follow-up Questionnaire. The median number of IVT injections performed per month during the year prior to completing the Follow-up Questionnaire by these ophthalmologists was increased to 35. The results of the Follow-up Questionnaire on administering IVT injections were similar to those of the Baseline Questionnaire. A majority of the ophthalmologists reported applying povidone-iodine (87.4%) before IVT injections, topical antibiotics right after IVT injections (89.5%), and an eyelid speculum (85.3%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study indicated a good adherence to all aspects of the guidelines on IVT injections. It seemed that ophthalmologists were more experienced in IVT injections after they became a routine treatment procedure.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology, Worldwide Safety and Regulatory.
authors.forename: Kui
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Clinical Sciences, Global Innovative Products Business.
authors.forename: Marla B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Sultan
authors.affiliation: Clinical Statistics, Global Established Pharma Business.
authors.forename: Duo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Safety Surveillance and Risk Management, Worldwide Safety and Regulatory, Pfizer Inc, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Tressler
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology, Worldwide Safety and Regulatory.
authors.forename: Jingping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mo
keywords: eyelid speculum; intravitreal injection; povidone–iodine; questionnaire; topical antibiotics