Retinal toxicity of intravitreal gentamicin
G. C. Brown, R. C. Eagle, E. P. Shakin, M. Gruber and V. V. Arbizio
Retina Vascular Unit Service, Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.
The short- and long-term effects of a 10-mg dose of intravitreal gentamicin
were studied in the subhuman primate eye with regard to the changes in
clinical appearance, fluorescein angiography, electroretinography,
histopathologic finding, and electron microscopy. The gentamicin produced
retinal whitening with a cherry-red spot, generalized vascular
incompetence, diffuse retinal necrosis, thrombosis of the large retinal
blood vessels, widespread loss of the retinal capillary pericytes and
endothelial cells, and a rapid extinction of the electroretinogram.
