Abstract
Purpose The aim of this study is to evaluate the cost-benefit ratio of the obligatory brain tissue testing of corneal donors for the presence of pathogenic prion proteins in the Czech Republic.
Methods Frontal lobe samples of all corneal tissue donors in the Czech Republic were collected during autopsies and later sent to the Czech National Reference Laboratory for the diagnosis of human prion disorders. The Prionics-Check WESTERN kit was used to test for the presence of pathogenic prions. The results were then confirmed using Western blot and one of two different types of monoclonal anti-PrP antibody
Results Since January 2007 till December 2022 7472 frontal lobe samples of all potential corneal tissue donors were collected and subsequently tested for the presence of pathogenic prion proteins. In 2 cases the frontal lobe samples showed weak positivity in the early stages of the testing. Further testing excluded the presence of pathogenic prion proteins in the aforementioned samples. The remaining 7470 tests for the presence of pathogenic prion testing yielded negative results in all stages of testing.
Conclusions We believe that strict surveillance of potential prion diseased patients in the Czech Republic, which are automatically excluded from the potential donation in combination with subsequent further exclusion criteria for donors performed by the eye banks are sufficient enough to exclude potential risk donors. Testing of corneal donors for the presence of pathogenic prion proteins not only increases the expenses but also causes delays for tissue release for at least 2 days, which can in some particular situations lead to lack of tissues for acute patients. We believe that abandonment of this obligatory test is reasonable and beneficial for corneal tissue recipients.
