Transcript Document
Transplantation of Suboptimal Corneal
Donor Tissue: A Case Series
Elsie Chan, FRANZCO
Graeme Pollock, PhD
Rasik B. Vajpayee, FRANZCO
World Cornea Congress, 2015
Financial interests: nil
Introduction
• Current standards for procurement and preparation of corneal donor
tissue involves:
– Extensive history from next-of-kin
– Slit lamp biomicroscopy of the corneo-scleral button (where the tissue
is examined in preservation medium in a bottle)
– Serological and microbiological testing
– Specular microscopy for endothelial cell structure and density
• There are limitations to the current screening methods, with cases of
transplantation using suboptimal tissue (eg. previous refractive surgery)
reported.1-3
Aim and Methods
Aim
• To present a series of patients who were observed to have corneal opacities in
the donor corneal tissue immediately following corneal transplantation
Study Design
• Retrospective case series
Cases
• 4 transplants performed using corneal buttons from 3 donors in Melbourne,
Australia in 2014
Donor tissues
• Prepared at a single eye bank service
• No history of surgery or other pathology in any of the donor corneas was
reported based on clinical history from next-of-kin
Case 1
History
• 50 year old male
• History of keratoconus and previous penetrating keratoplasty
• Developed post-graft ectasia
• Underwent a repeat penetrating keratoplasty
Post-operative finding
• Corneal opacity in mid-stroma, postulated to have been from previous
trauma
Outcome
• Patient happy with visual acuity, no further intervention required
Case 1
Photograph showing mid
stromal opacity in the
donor button (see
arrow)
Case 2a
History
• 40 year old male
• History of keratoconus
• Underwent Dia-DALK4
Post-operative finding
• Anterior stromal opacity
across corneal button
Outcome
• Repeat Dia-DALK performed
Anterior Segment OCT (Zeiss HD-OCT 4000, Carl Zeiss
Meditec, CA) image showing an anterior stromal
opacity across donor tissue
Case 2b
History
• 20 year old male
• History of advanced keratoconus
• Underwent DALK (using Melles’ technique5)
Donor button
• Fellow eye of donor in Case 2a
Post-operative finding
• Thin donor button measuring 470µm on anterior segment OCT 1 month
post-operatively
Outcome
• Patient happy with visual acuity, no further intervention required
Case 2b
Thin donor button measuring 470µm on anterior segment OCT (Visante
OCT, Carl Zeiss Meditec, CA). This is the fellow eye of Case 2a
Case 3
History
• 50 year old male
• History of keratoconus and previous penetrating keratoplasty
• Sustained blunt trauma leading to aphakia, aniridia, graft dehiscence
and graft failure
• Underwent penetrating keratoplasty and insertion of aniridic IOL
Post-operative finding
• 3 central corneal scars on the donor button consistent with a previous
corneal foreign body
Outcome
• Patient happy with visual acuity; no further intervention required
Case 3
Photograph showing
three anterior stromal
opacities in the donor
tissue
Discussion
• Current techniques to screen donor corneal tissue for transplantation may
not be sufficient to exclude pathologies including corneal scars and
previous refractive laser surgery
– History taking from the next-of-kin can be inaccurate or misleading6
– Slit-lamp examination of donor corneo-scleral buttons is difficult
– Subtle pathologies can be difficult to detect in donated eyes
(secondary to post-mortem stromal oedema and epithelial changes)
• To decrease the number of suboptimal donor corneal tissue
– Utilisation of more advanced imaging techniques including ocular
coherence tomography7, pachymetry and curvature maps8 may be
advantageous
– Additional training of eye bank staff in recognising corneal pathology
may also be helpful
References
1Maharana
P et al. Optom Vis Sci 2014; 91: e59.
2Mendez Angulo E. Refract Corneal Surg 1989; 5: 198.
3Michaeli-Cohen A et al. Cornea 2002; 21: 111
4Vajpayee R et al. JCRS 2014;40:276
5Melles GRJ et al. BJO 1999 83: 327
6Kang SJ et al. Cornea 2010; 29: 670
7Priglinger SG et al. Cornea. 2003;22:46.
8Ousley PJ and Terry MA. Cornea. 2002; 21:181.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Medical Photography and Imaging Centre, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne,
Australia and the Vision Eye Institute, Melbourne, Australia for the images used in this poster.