Effect of transportation on the quality of the donor corneal buttons

Abstract

The aim of this study is to see the effect of transportation on corneoscleral buttons and to correlate them with the weight of ice used during transportation. This is a prospective cross-sectional study. A total of 119 corneas were graded using slit-lamp examination and specular microscopy before and after transportation. Groups were made based on the weight of ice used during transportation and the number of hours of storage in McCarey-Kaufman (MK) media. The overall median percentage of endothelial cell loss (ECL) was 11.33%. The median percentage of ECL was significantly more with <500 g of ice as compared to ≥500 g (13.6% vs. 7.56%) with P = 0.006. There was no significant difference in percentage of ECL on storage in MK media for ≤48 h, ≤72 h, and ≤96 h. Corneal buttons have ECL on storage and transportation which can be minimized using the appropriate weight of ice during transportation.

Keywords

• Corneoscleral button
• endothelial cell loss
• McCarey-Kaufman media
• transportation
• wet ice