Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Ophthalmologist-in-chief Inger Westborg, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden
- Second opponent: Professor Dordi Austeng, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor II Olav Røise, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Associate Professor Elisabeth Qvigstad, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Senior Consultant Øystein Kalsnes Jørstad, Oslo University Hospital
Summary
Endophthalmitis is an inflammatory condition of the inside of the eye, usually caused by a pathogen, with the potential to cause blindness. Most commonly, it occurs after surgery, which provides a potential entry point for pathogens, and therefore it serves as an important quality indicator for ophthalmic surgery. The overall aim of this project was to ensure the quality of clinical practice at the Department of Ophthalmology, Oslo University Hospital (OUH) through assessment of both risk factors and management of endophthalmitis.
The studies present the epidemiology of the endophthalmitis cases at OUH over time and indicate that our surgical procedures have high standards in terms of endophthalmitis risk. To maintain focus on quality, the project led to formalization of a permanent endophthalmitis registry.
The steady increase in intravitreal injections challenges the capacity of ocular health care services. To reduce expenses the costly medical vials are split into several syringes. Contamination in relation to splitting of vials can lead to devastating clusters of endophthalmitis. To improve and safeguard this practice, OUH transferred this task to the hospital pharmacy, establishing pharmaceutical compounding of prefilled syringes under sterile conditions. Our study found this to be safe in terms of endophthalmitis risk, contributing to establishing a national standard for safe and cost-effective handling of drugs for intravitreal use.
Finally, we show that treatment of endophthalmitis can be initiated earlier that before (crucial for the prognosis). OUH is the only center performing surgical treatment of endophthalmitis in the South-Eastern part of Norway. We show that antibiotic treatment can be initiated when immediate surgical treatment is not achievable. The patients can then be referred for surgical treatment within the day. Samples are collected in relation to surgery, improving the diagnostic yield by combining culture with PCR.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.