ePoster
Presentation Description
Institution: National Burn Centre, Middlemore Hospital - Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand
Purpose
Systemic fungal infections are a known complication of severely burn injured patients. Fungaemia can seed to ocular tissue and the most common cause of endogenous endophthalmitis is candidaemia. It can be difficult to identify in intubated patients. Ocular candidiasis can have devastating outcomes including vision loss, and incidence does not always correlate with duration or severity of candidaemia. We aim to investigate the incidence of ocular manifestation of candidaemia in National Burn Centre (NBC) patients.
Methodology
A retrospective review of patients admitted to the NBC (June 2017 - June 2023), with a burn injury >20% total burn surface area (TBSA). We included all patients diagnosed with a systemic fungal infection. We performed a sub-analysis looking for patients with ocular manifestations. We excluded patients reviewed by ophthalmology for ocular burns with no evidence of fungal infection.
Results
During the study period, 154 patients were admitted with a >20% TBSA burn. Of these patients, 9 patients (5.8%) developed systemic fungal infections. All 9 patients developed candidaemia, 1 had concurrent aspergillus and 1 had concurrent mucormycosis. Of these 9 patients, 3 were diagnosed with ocular candidiasis (1 candida chorioretinitis, 1 candida enophthalmitis and 1 candida retinitis). Of the 9 patients, 3 died, but none of the patients with ocular candidiasis died.
Conclusion
Candidaemia is treated with systemic anti-fungal therapy and thorough wound debridement. The complications of ocular candidiasis can be significant including vision loss. The recommended treatment duration is significantly longer for patients with ocular candidiasis, therefore prompt diagnosis is necessary to guide appropriate treatment.
Speakers
Authors
Authors
Dr Anna Dargan - , Dr Richard Wongshe - , Dr Lindsay Damkat-Thomas - , Dr Paul Baker -