Incidence and characteristics of acute intraocular inflammation after intravitreal injection of bevacizumab: a retrospective cohort study

Objective: To determine the incidence and characteristics of acute intraocular inflammation after intravitreal bevacizumab injections from a tertiary care retinal practice. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Participants: A consecutive series of patients who had received bevacizumab injections performed by a single surgeon. Methods: We reviewed the records of all patients with severe anterior chamber inflammation and (or) vitritis after bevacizumab injections. Results: A total of 693 bevacizumab injections were performed on 193 eyes of 173 patients between June 2006 and March 2008. There were a total of 9 cases of acute intraocular inflammation for an incidence of 1.30% (95% CI: 0.69%-2.47%). All patients had a worse visual acuity at the end of follow-up than on injection day. The mean loss of vision was 6.1 lines of Snellen visual acuity; one patient developed inflammation-induced glaucoma which required surgical intervention. Conclusions: Intravitreal injection of bevacizumab is associated with a low but significant risk of acute intraocular inflammation and may result in significant visual loss.