[An important step in cornea procurement: interview with the family of donors].
BACKGROUND
Since bioethic laws were promulgated in France in 1994, post-mortem cornea procurement can be achieved only after donor's family consent. In order to fulfil this task, we set up a group of individuals including ophthalmologists and members of the coordination team. The aim of this study was to establish the efficiency of such a group and to evaluate the content of donor's family interview.


METHODS
During this 14-month prospective study, we analyzed all the interviews we performed with donor families. To report these interviews, we used a preestablished questionnaire.


RESULTS
We met 60 families during this study. Procurement rate was 80%. This acceptance was mostly facilitated by advanced mean donor's age (65 years) and by the 12-hour period of time allowed after donor's death. The other important factors were the terms of the interviews, the commitment for a perfect anatomical restoration. We noticed that usually (83%), the family was not aware of donor's last will and had unfortunately to make a choice. Accepting to wait for a final decision helped getting a positive response (86%) and even sometimes helped to reconsider a previous negative position (10%).


CONCLUSIONS
Because of a dramatic lack of corneal grafts in France, more than 7000 patients are on a waiting list. Our results show that positive response can be obtained from the donor's family when a trained group manages the donation request. We strongly suggest that each eye bank create such a group.
Muraine
M
M
Service d'Ophtalmologie, Hôpital Charles-Nicolle, Rouen.
Menguy
E
E
Eupherte
L
L
Martin
J
J
Pouille
P
P
Sadorge
T
T
Brasseur
G
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003315:Cornea; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014019:Tissue Donors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement
Une étape importante du prélèvement de cornées: l'entretien avec la famille des donneurs.