[Evaluation of corneal tissue processed by a reference Eye Bank].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the quality of the corneas processed by Sorocaba Eye Bank (BOS) - SP and transplanted out of the Ophthalmology Hospital of Sorocaba (HOS), as well as the corneas that had re-entered in the BOS, being transplanted or not in the HOS, during the year of 2007.


METHODS
Ophthalmologists that transplanted corneas processed by BOS outside of the Ophthalmology Hospital of Sorocaba were contacted, as well as those who had used re-entried corneas, to collect the following information: period from eye enucleation until transplant, transparency of the donated tissue, time of transplant and primary failure.


RESULTS
During the year of 2007, Sorocaba Eye Bank distributed three hundred and ninety-two corneas for outside HOS. From these, six had returned to BOS and had been transplanted in the Ophthalmology Hospital of Sorocaba. From those, none was rejected; however, two presented some opacity in the visual axis. After attempt to congregate information regarding the 386 transplanted corneas outside HOS, data of only 48 keratoplasty were available. The average time from the enucleation until the keratoplasty was of 5.5 days (1-13 days), and of postoperative average follow-up, 9.8 months (4-15 months). Three corneas had developed primary failure; three presented opacity in the visual axis; one presented infectious keratitis, requiring therapeutic keratoplasty; a patient died and another one lost follow-up. The other 39 corneas did not present any problems until the time this study was ended.


CONCLUSIONS
Because of the difficulties to congregate informations of the patients transplanted in other hospitals, it is difficult to define the quality of the distributed corneas by Sorocaba Eye Bank. Thus, other analysis are necessary in order to define changes and new directions for future studies on selection and preservation of donated corneas.
Silva
Reinaldo Ferreira da
RF
Hospital Oftalmológico de Sorocaba, Sorocaba, SP, Brasil. reiceres@hotmail.com
Vargas
Nathalie Urtiga de
NU
Rocha
Guilherme Andrade
GA
Freitas
Mayana Lopes
ML
Souza
Luciene Barbosa de
LB
Moreno
Natália Pimentel
NP
Raskin
Analisa
A
Silveira
Luis Felipe Sampaio Queiroz da
LF
D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003315:Cornea / Q000473:pathology*; D016039:Corneal Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005125:Eye Banks / Q000458:organization & administration; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000453:epidemiology; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D009885:Ophthalmology; D011786:Quality Control; D013997:Time Factors; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data