COSTS OF STORED CORNEAL GRAFTS

Background: Organ culture medium and Optisol are the most commonly use d corneal storage mediums. This study compares the costs for these two methods. Methods: In the calculation of costs we did not just take th e direct costs into account, but also tried to determine the fixed cos ts per transplanted cornea with corresponding assumptions. Results: Pr oceeding on the assumption that 50 stored corneas were transplanted pe r year, an amount of 11,660 ATS (1,666 DM, 857 ECU) for each organ cul tured and 11,986 ATS (1,712 DM, 881 ECU) for each graft preserved in O ptisol was calculated. Raising the number of transplanted corneas to 4 00 per year, each tissue stored in organ culture medium costs 2,811 AT S (402 DM, 207 ECU) and those preserved in Optisol 3234 ATS (462 DM, 2 38 ECU). Conclusion: Since organ culture storage gives us a reduction in costs of more than 15% compared to storing in Optisol, when preserv ing 400 transplantable grafts, from the business economics aspect, thi s storage method should be preferred.