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Corneal Cross-Linking Pre-Operative Assessment Using OCT Full-Field Corneal Pachymetry Compared to Ultrasonic Pachymetry

Utilization of the Novel RE-One Device for Human Eye Procurement Improves the Quality of Transplantation-Grade Corneal Tissue and Research-Grade Posterior Eye

Utilization of the Novel RE-One Device for Human Eye Procurement Improves the Quality of Transplantation-Grade Corneal Tissue and Research-Grade Posterior Eye

Authors

Kayla M. Jones, CEBT
Rahul Raghu, MD, MBA
Yang Shan, MD, MS
Patrice E. Fort, PhD
Kristen E. McCoy, CEBT, CTBS
Cheryl Zeleny
Onkar B. Sawant, PhD

Keywords

Cornea, posterior eye, retina, procurement techniques, eye-bank, RE-One

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the effectiveness of the novel RE-One chamber for excising surgical-grade human corneal tissue for transplantation and preserving high-quality posterior eyes for research purposes.

Methods: 56 corneas were excised from 28 research-intent donors using either traditional in-situ procurement techniques or RE-One chambers. The corneas were evaluated using standard eye banking practices and stained with Trypan blue to assess the corneal endothelium. An additional 10 whole eyes were procured from 5 donors to analyze the integrity of the retina within the posterior eye after traditional procurement technique or after RE-One chamber utilization.

Results: In the corneal excision study, scleral rim size was significantly more uniform in the RE-One group compared to the traditional method (P≤0.0001). Corneas excised from pseudophakic donors using RE-One devices demonstrated higher corneal endothelial cell density compared to those excised by the traditional method (P=0.0405). None of the posterior eyes procured using the RE-One chamber exhibited any retinal folds, detachments or tears. Adversely, posterior eyes procured using the traditional method resulted in a 60% retinal fold rate, 100% detachment rate and a 40% retinal tear rate.

Conclusion: Our series of investigations validates the beneficial effect of the RE-One chamber in procuring significantly higher-quality post-mortem human posterior eyes for research purposes while simultaneous improving the quality of surgical- grade corneas for transplantation.
Translational Relevance: RE-One not only improves the quality of surgical tissues to treat corneal blindness but also promotes the utilization of human eyes to bridge the translational gap between animal models and clinical studies.

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