All India Ophthalmological Society members' survey: Practice pattern of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injection

PURPOSE: The aim of this paper is to report the results of an on-line survey to evaluate the practice pattern of Indian retina specialists in administering intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injection. METHODS: A structured questionnaire on the intravitreal injection (IVI) procedure protocols was sent online to all members of the All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS) with a request to the retina specialists to respond. A unique link that directed to the web-based questionnaire page allowed a single response only. Participating physicians were masked from each others' responses. The responses were categorized into pre-injection patient preparation, injection aliquoting, injection administration, and post-injection care. The results were compared with similar surveys in Europe, the UK, and the USA. RESULTS: Response was received from 741 of 1016 (73%) retina specialists (of 16,000 AIOS ophthalmologists). The survey showed: 43.5% evaluated patient's cardiac risk factors, 60% used prophylactic topical antibiotic, 90.9% performed injection under topical anesthesia, 55% aliquoted from the bevacizumab vial at the eye care facility, 66.2% used a single puncture technique, 91.4% injected in the main operating room, 98% wore masks and sterile gloves during the procedure, 96% used lid speculum, and 89.3% advised topical antibiotic after the procedure. Peri procedure antibiotic use, injection in the min operating room, wearing of gloves and mask were higher than practices in other countries. CONCLUSION: Ophthalmologists in India practice asepsis in IVI procedure. There is no uniform protocol for aliquoting bevacizumab. Single use bevacizumab vial for exclusive ophthalmic use will further improve the safety of the procedure.