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Patients and surgeons from Cornea Consultants of Nashville participated in a study funded by the National Eye Institute indicating corneal transplants using tissue from older donors have similar rates of survival to those using tissue from younger donors.

The five-year transplant success rate for recipients was the same –– 86 percent –– for transplants performed across the nation with corneas from donors ages 12 to 65 years and from donors ages 66 to 75. Because of this new finding, the donor age pool, which is currently limited to those 65 and younger, could be expanded to include donors up to 75 years of age, the study authors concluded in the April issue of Ophthalmology.

Although the availability of donor corneas has been adequate for the past 10 years in the United States, where more than 33,000 corneal transplants are performed annually, recent changes in Food and Drug Administration regulations are anticipated to cause a decrease in the supply of donated corneas. The new regulations require additional screening and testing of potential donors for contagious diseases, registration of eye banks, more detailed records and labels and stricter quarantine procedures.

“This pivotal study indicates that corneas from older individuals are just as successful when used for transplants as those from younger donors,” said Erich Groos, Jr., MD, of Cornea Consultants. “Opening the donor pool to quality older corneas will help raise the quality of all tissue for all recipients.”

Cornea Consultants of Nashville was one of 80 sites that participated in the Cornea Donor Study and helped bring together more than 1,101 participants and 105 surgeons from across the United States.



July 2008

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