Corneae from body donors in anatomy department: valuable use for clinical transplantation and experimental research

Explanted corneae are highly needed for the surgical management of patients with severe corneal diseases. The aim of this study was to determine whether the body donors from the Institute of Anatomy are a suitable source of donor corneae.

At the Institute of Anatomy at Saarland University Medical Center in Homburg, corneae are prelevated from body donors who had consented to the removal of tissues for transplantation purposes during their lifetime. Following the report of death, the LIONS Eye Bank is informed and the contraindications of corneal explantation are clarified. Obtaining a blood sample within 24 h postmortem is mandatory.

The Institute of Anatomy had 150 body donors in the time period from January 2018 to June 2019. Out of these, 68 (45.3%) were reported to the Eye Bank. The age of the donors (median 82 years (range: 57–96)) is not critical since the quality of the corneae depends on the number of endothelial cells (mean: 2109 ± 67 cells/mm² (range: 511–2944 cells/mm²)). Contraindications were present in 19 (12.6%) cases. The corneae were extracted from 49 (32.7%) body donors. Out of these 98 corneae, 46 (46.9%) were successfully transplanted. Of all non-transplanted corneae, 6 (6.1%) were microbiologically contaminated, 10 (10.2%) had a positive serology, 22 (22.5%) had an endothelial cell count < 2000 cells/mm² and 6 (6.1%) are at time of this analysis still in culture medium. The non-transplanted tissues were used for research.

Explanted corneae from the Institute of Anatomy are a valuable option in obtaining grafts for corneal transplantation, which is why we are working toward on expanding cooperation with this department.