Comparison of Chen Medium and Optisol-GS for Human Corneal Preservation at 4°C

Abstract

After keratoplasty, no statistically significant differences in corneal thickness, epithelial survival, and endothelial cell loss were found between corneas stored in Chen Medium and Optisol-GS. Endothelial cell loss at 2 months was significantly correlated with storage time in both media.

Biology of the corneal endothelium in health and disease

“…For corneas preserved at 41C, the method used most commonly in the United States, there is a significant correlation between storage time and the decrease in cell density from the time before storage to the time after surgery, with corneas stored for longer periods having more cell loss. 47,48 This relation between storage time and endothelial cell loss has also been found for corneas preserved by organ culture, the method most commonly used today in Europe. 49 A major portion of cell loss can be attributed to apoptosis for both methods of storage.…”

Predictive donor factors for chronic endothelial cell loss after nonmechanical penetrating keratoplasty in a regression model

“…In contrast to cataract surgery, endothelial cell loss after PK is known to be an ongoing process even years after surgery. Endothelial cell loss is higher in the early time course after surgery and decreases 3-5 years after surgery [6,7,8,9,17].…”

“…Most of the studies available in the literature describe the corneal endothelial cell loss in a cross-sectional fashion after PK [6,7,8,9,12,13,20,21,30,34]. However, the results of these studies may not be indicative for the chronic endothelial cell loss in the long-term follow-up, because the inter-individual scatter between patients in the early postoperative stage is too high to derive consistent results.…”

Donor selection criteria: In Vitro Corneal Analysis

“…In fact, numerous publications support this interpretation when considering the initial endothelial density as the chief influential factor in graft survival [59][60][61] . As both duration of permanence in cold storage medium [62][63][64] and surgery tend to decrease the endothelial graft density, eye banks take those factors into account when defining the minimum cell density for a donor cornea to be eligible for grafting. In a sample of 72 clear corneal grafts with 10 years, Ing et al 65 .…”