[Intravitreous injection: retrospective study on 2028 injections and their side effects]

To observe the tolerance of repeated intravitreous injections over the short and long term and to analyze their complications.

The clinical records of consecutive patients having one or several intravitreous injections between 2002 and 2007 were evaluated, for all indications except the treatment of endophthalmitis.

2028 intravitreous injections were performed, mainly for age-related macular degeneration (n=1 192) or macular edema secondary to diabetes mellitus or retinal vein occlusion (n=41). The injected drug was triamcinolone acetonide 4 mg (339 injections), pegaptanib sodium 0.3 mg (1179 injections), and ranibizumab 0.3 (497 injections). The patients received 1-27 intravitreous injections per eye. The main complications were endophthalmitis (two after triamcinolone, 0.1% of the total group), pseudoendophthalmitis (two after triamcinolone, 0.1% of the total group), hypertony (7.69% of the total group, 13.78% after triamcinolone, 3.56% after pegaptanib, 1.21% after ranibizumab), including five cases of acute hypertony with transient light perception loss after ranibizumab, cataract (0.44% of total group), and macular hole (one patient after triamcinolone). No case of retinal detachment nor systemic complication was observed.

Most of the complications were observed with the use of nonfiltered triamcinolone. The incidence of endophtalmitis was considerably lower with increased experience and the use of a dedicated room for the injections. Repeated injections were locally well tolerated.

With the strict respect of asepsis rules, intravitreous injection seems well tolerated over the short and long term.