Risk Factors for Orbital Implant Extrusion after Evisceration

This study analyzed risk factors for extrusion of orbital implants after evisceration by comparing patients with and without implant extrusion.

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent evisceration with primary implant placement by a single surgeon from January 2005 to December 2019 at the Chungnam National University Hospital. Age, sex, underlying systemic diseases, axial length of the fellow eye, the cause of evisceration, endophthalmitis type, implant type and size, and preoperative computed tomography findings were evaluated. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors for implant extrusion.

Of the 140 eyes of 140 patients, extrusion occurred in five eyes (3.6%). Endophthalmitis (odds ratio (OR), 15.49; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.70 to 2038.56; p = 0.010), endogenous endophthalmitis (OR, 18.73; 95% CI, 3.22 to 125.21, p = 0.002), orbital cellulitis (OR, 320.54; 95% CI, 29.67 to 44801.64; p < 0.001), implant size (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.30 to 0.79; p = 0.004), and hydroxyapatite for the implant (OR, 0.07; 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.66; p = 0.016) were risk factors for implant extrusion in univariate logistic regression analysis. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified orbital cellulitis as the only risk factor for extrusion (OR, 52.98; 95% CI, 2.18 to 15367.34; p = 0.009).

Evisceration with primary orbital implantation is a feasible option in endophthalmitis, but the risk of extrusion should be taken into consideration. When performing evisceration in a patient with orbital cellulitis, secondary implantation should be carried out only after any infection is controlled.