WAS IT LEUCONOSTOC SPECIES? A CASE OF DELAYED-ONSET ENDOPHTHALMITIS PRESENTING 14 YEARS AFTER CATARACT SURGERY

To report a case of delayed-onset endophthalmitis presenting 14 years after an uncomplicated cataract surgery.

Case report.

An 89-year-old pseudophakic man complained of redness and reduced visual acuity in his right eye. He had no history of trauma or systemic infection, and his only surgery on the right eye was an uncomplicated cataract surgery 14 years before. On physical examination, he was found to have keratic precipitates and a white posterior capsular plaque in the right eye. He was treated with a right pars plana vitrectomy and intraocular lens removal. Microbiological classification of the samples revealed the presence of a Leuconostoc species within the vitreous humor and coagulase-negative staphylococci on the lens. Two months after placement of the intraocular lens, he achieved a best-corrected visual acuity of 20/200 in his right eye.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of delayed-onset endophthalmitis occurring more than 10 years after an uncomplicated cataract surgery. This case highlights a highly unusual presentation of delayed-onset endophthalmitis and reports a potential novel microbiological cause of plaque formation.