[Quality of corneal tissue procured by trained non-ophthalmologist medical personnel].

Background: The cornea is the first tissue awaiting transplantation at a national level. It is imperative to train health personnel in procurement technique with excision of corneoscleral button in situ. The objective was to compare the quality of corneal tissue procured by social service medical interns and Ophthalmology residents in a third level hospital.

Methods: We performed a quasi-experimental pilot study with two groups: group 1, which included trained social service medical interns, and group 2, which included trained residents of Ophthalmology.

Results: 10 participants in two groups had a mean endothelial cell density of 2662.35 ± 223.92, a percentage of hexagonal cells of 53.89 ± 5.61 %, and a coefficient of variation of 0.43 ± 0.06 in group 1; also, and respectively, group 2 presented these results: 2656.44 ± 156.14, 64.15 ± 5.90 %, and 0.45 ± 0.06. The macroscopic and microscopic quality of procured corneal tissues was similar in both groups. Besides the learning curve and complications were minimal.

Conclusion: All trained medical personnel acquired skills necessary to obtain optimal corneal tissue.