Analysis of urgent follow up visits and complications after intravitreal injections: a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Intravitreal injections (IVIs), a common treatment in ophthalmology, result in acute complications and urgent follow-up visits causing significant burden to both patient and physician. We evaluated the incidence of acute complications following IVIs which occurred within seven days of injection. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study conducted at a private retinal practice, in Cleveland, Ohio. Using the practice management software database, we examined 73,286 injections of patients with unscheduled or urgent visits within 7 days of an injection from August 1st,2018 to August 1st,2020. Data collected included: age, gender, eye, medication injected, diagnosis, reason for urgent follow-up, time between injection and urgent follow-up, and type of anesthesia administered. Data was analyzed using SPSS v.28 (SPSS Inc., Chicago IL). RESULTS: Study included 73,286 injections, with 441 injections (n = 441) resulting in urgent follow-up visits (0.60%). Mean patient age was 72.1 (± 30.4) years, with 187 male (42.4%) and 254 female (57.6%) patients. IVI medications included: aflibercept (60.3%), ranibizumab (22.4%), bevacizumab (13.4%), dexamethasone intravitreal implant (2%), triamcinolone acetonide (1.6%) brolucizumab (1.59%), fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implant 0.19 mg (0.2%), and fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implant 0.18 mg (0.03%) (Table 1). Medications associated with urgent visits included: aflibercept (42.9%), bevacizumab (37.4%), ranibizumab (7.9%), dexamethasone intravitreal implant (6.8%), brolucizumab (2.7%), and triamcinolone acetonide (2.3%) (Table 2). Days between injection and urgent follow-up was on average 3.96 ± 2.14 days. Urgent follow-ups included blurred vision in 164 patients (37.2% of urgent visits), flashes, floaters or posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) in 55 (12.5%), pain in 42 (9.5%), 43 (9.8%) corneal abrasions, 33 (7.5%) subconjunctival hemorrhages, corneal dryness or foreign body sensation in 30 (6.6%), endophthalmitis in 20 (4.5%), 18 (4.1%)vitreous hemorrhages, iritis or uveitis in 11 (2.5%), miscellaneous complications in 9 (2.0%), 7 (1.6%) elevated intraocular pressures, choroidal neovascular membrane in 4 (0.9%), 4 (0.9%) retinal detachments or tears, and 2 (0.45%) traumatic cataracts (Table 3). CONCLUSION: IVIs resulted in 0.60% urgent/unscheduled follow-up visits within 7 days of injection. Most common causes were blurred vision and symptoms of PVD.