PMID: 18427611Apr 23, 2008Paper

Central corneal opacification resulting from recent chemotherapy in corneal donors.

Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Society
Woodford S Van Meter

Abstract

Ocular surface disease following penetrating keratoplasty has been shown to increase patient morbidity and adversely affect graft survival. Five cases of dense central subepithelial opacification were noted in keratoplasty patients who received tissue from donors who had chemotherapy prior to death. Cancer-related deaths account for approximately 20% of the cornea donor pool. The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of recent systemic antimetabolite therapy on donor corneas. Eye bank donor charts of 120 consecutive penetrating keratoplasty donors were retrospectively reviewed for cancer-related deaths. Donors who received chemotherapy prior to death were identified. Recipient records of those patients receiving tissue from donors that had recently undergone systemic chemotherapy were reviewed. Corneal clarity and postoperative ocular surface disease were noted by the surgeon. Twenty-nine of 120 cornea donors (24%) had a cancer-related cause of death. Five of these 29 donors (17%) had undergone systemic chemotherapy with antimetabolite drugs (which inhibit microtubule formation) within the previous 8 weeks. All 5 recipients postoperatively developed central subepithelial opacification in spite of temporary tarsorrhap...Continue Reading

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