Corneal transplantation with donor tissue kept in organ culture for 7 weeks

Purpose: To study the fate of corneal grafts after extended organ culture ( 7 weeks). Methods: Six patients with symmetrical eye diseases were grafted bilaterall y, in one eye with a cornea prepared by routine organ culture (mean 16 days ), in the other eye with a donor cornea kept for 7 weeks (mean 49 days) in organ culture. The outcome was evaluated by biomicroscopy, graft thickness, endothelial cell density and visual performance after an observation time of at least 1 year. Results: Penetrating 7-8 mm grafting was uncomplicated in all cases. The en dothelial densities were in both groups in the range 1000-2000 cells/mm(2), and visual acuity 0.2-0.9 in cases with no other ocular pathology. Postope rative graft thickness and deswelling did not differ between 2- and 7-week cultured corneas, At final examination the thicknesses were 0.50 mm and 0.4 9 mm for 2- and 7-weeks cultured corneas. Conclusion: Seven-week cultured corneas give clinical results comparable to those obtained using shorter culture periods. An extended culture period m ay be used to improve other qualities of the graft (compatibility, cell num ber, cell metabolism) and microbiological control.