European eye bank association.

Background: The European Eye Bank Association (EEBA) is a technical-scientific organization for eye banks. Founded in 1989 with the simple objective of sharing information on eye banking, the Association is today the leading pan-national association in Europe dedicated to the advancement of eye banking and an authoritative reference point for eye banks which work according to quality standards.

Methods: The Association establishes and maintains an agreed set of medical and technical standards, promotes the collection of data on eye bank activities and processes, provides opportunities for the discussion of all aspects of eye banking practice, including eye donor selection and procurement, relevant research and development, education and training in eye banking, and maintains linkage with national and international corneal transplant communities and relevant bodies.

Are disposable prisms an adequate alternative to standard Goldmann tonometry prisms in glaucoma patients?

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy and reliability of 2 single-use tonometry devices (Tonosafe and Tonojet) as an alternative to standard Goldmann prisms in patients attending dedicated glaucoma clinics.

Design: Prospective experimental study with human subjects.

Participants: Two hundred forty glaucoma patients who attended 2 glaucoma clinics at the Stepping Hill Hospital between January and February 2005.

Transplantation of ocular tissue from a donor with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Background: One definite, one probable and several possible transmissions of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) have followed corneal transplantation. We report an incident in the UK in 1997 in which both corneas and scleras from a donor, subsequently confirmed to have had sCJD, were transplanted. The final clinical outcome for two surviving recipients is still not yet known.

A longitudinal case series investigating cellular changes to the transplanted cornea using confocal microscopy.

Purpose: To perform a longitudinal evaluation of subjects who had undergone penetrating keratoplasty, using slit scanning confocal microscopy.

Methods: In vivo confocal microscopy was used to evaluate the central cornea of four subjects who had recently undergone penetrating keratoplasty. Subjects were examined on four occasions over a 12-month period after surgery.

Risk factors for the development of corneal infiltrative events associated with contact lens wear.

Purpose: To identify risk factors for the development of corneal infiltrative events (CIEs) associated with contact lens wear, and to report other relevant clinical characteristics.

Methods: A series of symptomatic contact lens wearers presenting consecutively to a large hospital clinic over a 1-year period were examined. The clinical severity of any CIE was determined with a scoring system, and general and lens-specific information was captured with a questionnaire.

Incidence and morbidity of hospital-presenting corneal infiltrative events associated with contact lens wear.

Aim: To determine the incidence and morbidity (visual loss) of hospital-presenting corneal infiltrative events (CIEs) associated with the wearing of current generation contact lenses.

Methods: All contact lens wearers presenting with any form of corneal infiltrate/ulcer to a hospital centre in Manchester, UK, were surveyed in this 12-month, prospective, hospital-based epidemiological study. A clinical severity matrix was used to quantify the overall severity of presenting signs and symptoms.

The size, location, and clinical severity of corneal infiltrative events associated with contact lens wear.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the size, location, and clinical severity of corneal infiltrative events (CIEs) associated with contact lens wear.

Methods: We examined a series of contact lens wearers, presenting consecutively to a large hospital clinic, who had any form of CIE. The severity of the CIE was quantified using a clinical severity matrix based on scores attributed to each of 10 signs and symptoms.

In vivo corneal confocal microscopy in keratoconus.

Purpose: To evaluate the corneas of keratoconic subjects using in vivo confocal microscopy.

Methods: Slit scanning confocal microscopy was used to evaluate the central cornea of one eye of each of 29 keratoconic subjects (mean age 31 +/- 10 years; range 16-49 years). Quantitative aspects of corneal morphology were compared against data from control subjects.

Confocal microscopy of Thygeson's superficial punctate keratopathy.

Purpose: To describe the changes seen with the confocal microscope in Thygeson's superficial punctate keratopathy (TSPK).

Methods: Confocal microscopy was performed on six patients with TSPK presenting to Manchester Royal Eye Hospital from October 1999 to June 2001. Both eyes were examined including the normal fellow eyes of two patients with unilateral TSPK.

Prion protein accumulation in eyes of patients with sporadic and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Purpose: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) primarily affects the brain. This study was conducted to assess the possible involvement of the eye in sporadic and variant CJD by testing for the presence of the disease-associated, protease-resistant isoform of the prion protein (PrP(Sc)) in ocular tissue.

Methods: Human eyes from donors with CJD and non-prion neurodegenerative disease control eyes were studied.