title: [Obtaining donor corneas without eyeball removal].
abstract: The goal of the present study was to compare the quality of 7-mm corneal buttons taken directly from donor eyes with commonly obtained transplants. Seven-mm porcine corneal specimens and 16-mm cornoscleral specimens were immersed for 3 and 7 days in Optisol culture medium. After 3 days, ultrasonic pachometry revealed a decline to 73% of the original thickness in the 7-mm and to 83% in the 16-mm specimens. After 8 days, the thickness in both groups had returned to 91% of the original values. Light microscopy revealed a homogeneous endothelial layer in both groups. Staining with 0.25% Trypan blue revealed only a few dead cells. The 7-mm specimens exhibited fewer wrinkles in Descemet's membrane than the 16-mm specimens. Scanning electron microscopy of human 7-mm corneal specimens, some obtained directly from donor eyes and stored in Optisol and some trephined from 16-mm corneoscleral specimens after immersion, detected uniformly smooth cutting edges in both groups. Even the endothelia displayed no marked differences. Our results show that the quality of donor specimens removed at the desired size in situ and stored in Optisol equals that of commonly obtained specimens. Further investigations must show the feasibility of this procedure in practice.
authors.affiliation: Augenklinik, Städtische Kliniken, Frankfurt am Main/Höchst.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Künster
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Eckardt
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eckardt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016039:Corneal Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000473:pathology; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000473:pathology; D015353:Eye Enucleation; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D013552:Swine
vernacular_title: Gewinnung von Spenderhornhäuten ohne Bulbusentnahme.