Phacoanaphylactic endophthalmitis associated with extracapsular cataract extraction and posterior chamber intraocular lens
D. J. Apple, N. Mamalis, R. L. Steinmetz, K. Loftfield, A. S. Crandall and R. J. Olson
We describe the clinicopathologic findings in a patient who underwent
extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) with insertion of a posterior
chamber intraocular lens (IOL). The patient had a sterile hypopyon and
anterior uveitis that temporarily subsided but recurred. The inflammation
actually worsened after removal of the IOL, and the eye was enucleated.
Histopathologic examination showed a pattern consistent with
phacoanaphylactic endophthalmitis. We therefore postulate that the
patient's complications were due to hypersensitivity to her own lens
protein, which remained after the ECCE, rather than to the IOL itself.
