Iatrogenic intralenticular broken steroid implant: a case report

BACKGROUND: This is a case report of an iatrogenic intralenticular broken steroid (Ozurdex™) implant in a patient with uveitis. There are only a few case reports on broken Ozurdex™ implants in the vitreous cavity, with none of them involving the crystalline lens. A few authors have described the accidental injection of an Ozurdex™ implant into the crystalline lens, but all of the implants remained in one piece in the lens and none of them were broken. We report an unusual case of an Ozurdex™ implant which was injected inadvertently into the crystalline lens, resulting in a broken Ozurdex™ implant with an entry and exit wound through the posterior capsule of the lens.

CASE PRESENTATION: An ophthalmic trainee performed an Ozurdex™ intravitreal injection into a 48-year-old Asian man's right eye under aseptic conditions. This patient was then followed up for further management. On day 7 post-procedure, a slit lamp examination revealed that the Ozurdex™ implant was injected into the intralenticular structure of his right eye and had fractured into two pieces. The posterior capsule of the right lens was breached, with one half of the Ozurdex™ implant stuck at the entry and the other stuck at the exit wound of the posterior capsule. This patient underwent right eye cataract extraction and repositioning of the fractured implant; he made an uneventful recovery.

CONCLUSIONS: Ophthalmologists should be aware of the potential risk of injecting an Ozurdex™ implant into an anatomical structure other than the vitreous cavity. Adequate training and careful administration of the Ozurdex™ implant are necessary to avoid such a complication, which fortunately is rare.