TISSUE UTILIZATION AT THE MINNESOTA-LIONS-EYE-BANK

The purpose of this study was to examine the utilization of corneas pr ocured by the Minnesota Lions' Eye Bank to determine why corneas were excluded from transplantation and to identify methods to safely increa se the number of tissues made available for transplantation. We perfor med a retrospective review of the eye bank charts of 2,382 corneas eva luated by the Minnesota Lions' Eye Bank between December 1, 1992 and N ovember 30, 1993. During that time 748 corneas (31%) were made availab le for transplantation; 1,597 (67%) were directed toward research or t raining. Thirty-seven corneas (1.5%) were disposed of for safety reaso ns. Six hundred and sixty of the corneas which were excluded from tran splantation (40%) were excluded for a donor aged over 75 years. Three hundred and ninety-one corneas (24%) were rejected because of a contra indication in the donor's past ocular or medical history. Another 395 corneas (24%) were excluded for poor tissue quality. The most common r eason for exclusion of tissue based on tissue quality was abnormalitie s seen on specular microscopic examination (200 corneas). Of interest, only 14 corneas were rejected for low endothelial cell counts. This r eview of our tissue evaluation process has led us to reevaluate and ch ange our policy regarding exclusion of corneas for epithelial defects and arcus senilis. These data suggest that further evaluation of the a bnormalities seen on specular microscopic examination and their validi ty as exclusion criteria should be undertaken. Other areas for further evaluation are how to improve the timeliness of tissue procurement an d whether excluding all tissues over age 75 years and all postsurgical eyes is valid.