Prolonged donor cornea preservation in organ culture: Long-term clinical evaluation

A long-term study of 114 penetrating keratoplasties in 106 patients using donor corneas stored at 37°C in organ culture incubation for an average of 16.5 days prior to transplantation is reported. A total of 80.7% of the grafts remained clear after a minimum of 6 months' follow-up time. Compared with other published studies using 4°C refrigeration and M-K medium, there appears to be no difference in the success rate or cause of graft failure between these three methods. Except for an increased incidence of wound separation using organ cultured corneas the postoperative complications are similar. There is no apparent modification of immune graft rejection. Based on the results of this study, 37°C organ culture appears to be a safe and efficacious method of medium to long-term corneal storage prior to penetrating keratoplasty.