Graft survival using cadaver and multiorgan donors between 2008 and 2017 in our department

Abstract

Introduction: Corneal banking methods have been changing since the foundation of the first corneal bank in 1944. Corneal graft survival may be affected by several factors, among others the storage method, which may be short-, middle- and long-term storage. Objective: To investigate corneal graft survival at the Department of Ophthalmology, Semmelweis University between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2017, using cadaver and multiorgan donors for penetrating and lamellar keratoplasty, retrospectively. Method: Recipient sex, age, clinical diagnosis, date of surgery, histological examination results and origin of donors (cadaver or multiorgan donor) were recorded. Correlation between recipient age and time to repeat keratoplasty was also analyzed. Results: There were 1451 keratoplasties in 1159 eyes (age 62.8 ± 18.5 years) of 1088 patients (44.6% male) using 938 (64.6%) cadaver and 262 (18.0%) multiorgan donors, data was not available in 251 (17.2%) cases. There was repeat keratoplasty in 217 patients (18.7% of first keratoplasties). The most common histological diagnosis was endothelial decompensation (130 cases, 60.4%) in these cases. In patients with a first repeat keratoplasty, in 146 cases (67.2%) the first donor originated from cadavers, in 31 cases (14.2%) from multiorgan donors and in 40 cases (18.4%) data were not available. Conclusion: Corneal donors mainly originate from cadavers at our Department. The necessity of repeat keratoplasties does not differ using cadaver or multiorgan donors. With further development of corneal banking, donor survival may be increased in Hungary.