The effect of postoperative oral antibiotic therapy on the incidence of postoperative endophthalmitis after phacoemulsification surgery in dogs: 368 eyes (1997-2010).

Purpose: To assess the effectiveness of postoperative administration of oral antibiotics at reducing the incidence of endophthalmitis following phacoemulsification cataract extraction in dogs.

Methods: Medical records of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine were reviewed for cases having undergone phacoemulsification and divided according to whether or not they had received oral antibiotics postoperatively. Records were then evaluated for a diagnosis of endophthalmitis and incidence rates between the group receiving postoperative oral antibiotics and the group not receiving postoperative oral antibiotics were compared.

Results: A total of 215 patients (368 eyes) were identified by the search. One-hundred twelve patients (197 eyes) were treated with oral antibiotics postoperatively. One-hundred and three patients (171 eyes) were not treated with oral antibiotics postoperatively. Three cases of endophthalmitis were identified, with one in the antibiotic-treated group and two in the non-antibiotic treated group ( > 0.05, Fisher's exact test).

Conclusions: The overall incidence of endophthalmitis at the University of Tennessee from 1997-2010 was 0.82%. The rate of post-phacoemulsification endophthalmitis was unaffected by the postoperative administration of oral antibiotics.