Showing papers on "Eye bank published in 1992"

Long-term survival of endothelium following transplantation of corneas stored by organ culture.

Abstract: This study reports corneal graft survival, endothelial cell changes, and visual outcome in 20 patients who received some of the first corneas stored by organ culture in the Corneal Transplant Service Eye Bank in Bristol. Mean donor age was 48 years (SD 15, n = 20) and corneas were stored for an average of 21 days (SD 7, n = 20). Preoperative endothelial cell density was 2334 cells/mm2 (SD 235, n = 18) and this fell by 8% (SD 12) to 2158 cells/mm2 (SD 372) within the first 2 months following transplantation. In 13 patients, endothelial cell density thereafter declined exponentially with a half-life of 41 months (SD 17, n = 12; one patient excluded as an outlier). Corneas that suffered rejection episodes showed the highest rates of loss of endothelial cells. Endothelial cell loss 4 years after transplantation was 46% (SD 16, n = 12), which was similar to the postoperative decline in cell density reported for corneas stored for far shorter periods in McCarey-Kaufman medium at 4 degrees C.

Growth of human corneal endothelium on altered Descemet's membrane.

Abstract: To determine whether Descemet's membrane (DM), which is altered by disease, interferes with endothelial cell growth, healthy human corneal endothelial cells were seeded onto DM from normal corneas and diseased corneal buttons from patients with Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy and pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (PBK). DM was first peeled off the corneal specimens and the endothelial cells removed by trypsinization. A suspension of first-passage corneal endothelial cells (2,000 cells/microliters; obtained from donor eye bank eyes and grown in Dulbecco's minimal essential medium with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1.5% chondroitin sulfate) were seeded on DM. Epidermal growth factor (10 ng/ml) and insulin (1 U/ml) were added to the medium after seeding cells on the DM. The cells attached and flattened within 1 hour and reached confluency in 1 week on normal DM. Cells grown on DM from corneas of patients with Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy also flattened and grew to confluency in 1 week. Cells grown on DM from corneas of patients with PBK did not grow to confluency. Further studies with bovine and rabbit corneal endothelial cells showed similar growth pattern to human cells. These data indicate that DM from corneas of patients with Fuchs' dystrophy does not interfere with the growth of corneal endothelial cells but that DM from corneas of patients with PBK does interfere with cell growth.

The fate of corneal transplants from the Zurich eye bank

Abstract: In a retrospective study, we investigated the survival of transplanted corneal material, which had been sent between 1988 and 1989 from the Zurich Eye Bank to both domestic and foreign physicians and clinics. A questionnaire was used to determine diagnosis, transplant survival, cause of any opacification, the occurrence of problems of epithelialisation, loosening of sutures, as well as vascularization of the host cornea. Of a total of 416 corneas, 327 or 79% could be evaluated. The mean follow-up periods of the various diagnostic groups ranged from 11 to 20 months, with a range of 1 to 35 months. After 18 months, the rate of clear transplants was 96% in the keratokonus group. This rate was significantly better than that of the bullous keratopathy group (77%, p less than 0.013) or that of all other diagnosis groups (72%, p less than 0.001). The difference to the 81% survival rate of the group with Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy was not significant. The most frequent cause of transplant opacification was primary transplant failure. Analysis of possible risk factors further confirmed that transplant opacification occurs more frequent in the presence of vascularization of the host cornea.