Impact of the cornea donor study on acceptance of corneas from older donors.

Purpose: To evaluate retrospectively whether the findings from the Cornea Donor Study (CDS) led to changes in the transplantation of corneas from older donors.

Methods: Eye banks in United States provided complete data on donor age and placement (domestic or international) for 86,273 corneas from 1998 to 2009. The data were analyzed by 3 periods, preceding CDS (1998-1999), during CDS (2000-2007), and after publication of CDS 5-year results (2008-2009), and separately for corneas placed within versus outside the United States.

Donor age and corneal endothelial cell loss 5 years after successful corneal transplantation. Specular microscopy ancillary study results.

Objective: To determine whether endothelial cell loss 5 years after successful corneal transplantation is related to the age of the donor.

Design: Multicenter, prospective, double-masked clinical trial.

Participants: Three hundred forty-seven subjects participating in the Cornea Donor Study who had not experienced graft failure 5 years after corneal transplantation for a moderate-risk condition (principally Fuchs' dystrophy or pseudophakic corneal edema).

The effect of donor age on corneal transplantation outcome results of the cornea donor study.

Objective: To determine whether graft survival over a 5-year follow-up period using corneal tissue from donors older than 65 is similar to graft survival using corneas from younger donors.

Design: Multicenter prospective, double-masked, controlled clinical trial.

Participants: One thousand ninety subjects undergoing corneal transplantation for a moderate-risk condition (principally Fuchs' dystrophy or pseudophakic corneal edema); 11 subjects with ineligible diagnoses were not included.