Evaluation and transplantation of corneas from pseudophakic donor eyes.

Purpose: To evaluate the quality of corneal donor tissue from pseudophakic eyes for transplantation.

Methods: Only capsular-supported posterior chamber pseudophakia was studied. Forty-five pairs of donor eyes were assessed and evaluated by standard Minnesota Lions Eye Bank (MLEB) protocol. Thirty-three pairs were unilaterally pseudophakic with the unoperated phakic eye used as a control eye. Twelve donors were bilaterally pseudophakic. All corneas were rated for corneal clarity, epithelial defects, stromal edema, Descemet's membrane folding, endothelial cell density (ECD), and cell damage by slit-lamp examination and specular microscopy. If the corneas were not transplanted, the endothelium was vital stained with trypan blue and counterstained with alizarin red S for quantitation, localization, and visualization of cell morphology and damage.

Results: Sixty-eight of the 90 corneas in this study did not meet transplantation criteria. A significant difference in ECD (>22%) and in overall corneal rating was found in seven (21%) of 33 pairs of unilateral pseudophakic donors. Fourteen corneal transplants were performed using corneas from the donors in this study. Nine corneas from pseudophakic donor eyes were transplanted, resulting in one primary graft failure reported.

Conclusion: Corneas from pseudophakic donor eyes may need more extensive evaluation for endothelial viability than is currently required by eye bank standards.