Original articleDonor Age and Corneal Endothelial Cell Loss 5 Years after Successful Corneal Transplantation: Specular Microscopy Ancillary Study Results
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Materials and Methods
Details of the CDS protocol have been reported,10, 11 and pertinent aspects are briefly described here. The protocol was approved by institutional review boards at each investigational site, and each subject gave written informed consent to participate in the study. Eligible subjects were between 40 and 80 years old and had a corneal disease associated with endothelial dysfunction and moderate risk of failure (principally Fuchs’ dystrophy and pseudophakic corneal edema). Eligible corneas were
Results
Mean age at the time of transplantation of the 347 subjects included in the analysis was 69 years; 224 (65%) of the subjects were female, and 333 (96%) were Caucasian, 9 (3%) African American, 2 (<1%) Hispanic, and 3 (<1%) other race. Indications for corneal transplantation included Fuchs’ dystrophy in 264 (76%), pseudophakic/aphakic corneal edema in 72 (21%), and a variety of other causes in 11 (3%). One hundred twenty-six eyes (36%) were pseudophakic and 16 (5%) aphakic at the time of
Discussion
The SMAS was developed to measure corneal ECD changes over time in the CDS population. The ECD declines with age in the normal cornea. This process of cell loss is greatly accelerated after penetrating keratoplasty and persists for years after transplantation.7 Thus, chronic endothelial cell loss after penetrating keratoplasty is a recognized phenomenon that can impact graft survival.
In this study, we found that endothelial cell loss among successful transplants was substantial during the first
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Cited by (0)
Manuscript no. 2007-1567.
Supported by the National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland (cooperative agreement nos. EY12728, EY12358). Additional support provided by Eye Bank Association of America, Washington, DC; Bausch & Lomb, Inc., Rochester, New York; Tissue Banks International, Baltimore, Maryland; Vision Share, Inc., Apex, North Carolina; San Diego Eye Bank, San Diego, California; Cornea Society, Fairfax, Virginia; Katena Products, Inc., Denville, New Jersey; ViroMed Laboratories, Inc., Minnetonka, Minnesota; Midwest Eye-Banks (Michigan Eye-Bank, Illinois Eye-Bank), Ann Arbor, Michigan; Konan Medical Corp., Torrance, California; Eye Bank for Sight Restoration, New York, New York; SightLife, Seattle, Washington; Sight Society of Northeastern New York (Lions Eye Bank of Albany), Albany, New York; and Lions Eye Bank of Oregon, Portland, Oregon.
E-mail: [email protected].
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See “Appendix 2” (available at http://aaojournal.org) for a list of Group members.