Abstract
Intravenous or topical gentamicinFootnote 1 may be the initial mode of treatment for lacerated or ruptured eyes by emergency room physicians while awaiting ophthalmic consultation and surgical repair. The purpose of this study was to determine the possibility of having retinotoxic intravitreal gentamicin concentrations in experimentally lacerated rabbit eyes treated with either intravenous or topical gentamicin separately or in combination with each other. Nontoxic concentrations of gentamicin were found in the vitreous bodies by all routes of drug administration. After 3 h intravitreal concentrations of gentamicin were: 0.20–0.30 μg/ml when treated intravenously, 0–2.9 μg/ml when treated topically, and 0.20–0.51 μg/ml when treated both intravenously and topically. While the upper range of topically applied gentamicin concentrations (2.9 μg/ml) is therapeutic for some pathogens, the wide range of intravitreal concentrations (0–2.9 μg/ml) achieved does not indicate that topically applied gentamicin with or without intravenously administered gentamicin can reliably achieve therapeutic concentrations.
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Notes
The authors have no commercial or proprietary interest in the gentamicin nor are they sponsored by the manufacturers of the drug in any capacity
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Yoshizumi, M.O., Leinwand, M.J. & Kim, J. Topical and intravenous gentamicin in traumatically lacerated eyes. Graefe's Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 230, 175–177 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00164659
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00164659