Quality control of 2721 cornea transplantations of issued by Center of Corneal Analysis and conservation by the Bank of Tissue and Cells of Tuscany

Knowledge of the clinical evolution of corneal transplantation is fundamental to its improvement by upgrading the modalities and conservation methods in eye banking. The purpose of this retrospective study was to review of the results obtained with corneal transplantation performed at 50 Italian hospitals supplied by our center. From July 1997 through December 2002, 2721 corneas were used for transplantation. A questionnaire was mailed to every transplant center, that included queries about the number of corneal transplants performed, the number of primary and late failures, and the prevalence of posttransplant endopthalmitis. Preliminary results revealed no correlation between primary/late failures and the morphologic properties of the cornea, donor age, although a few failures seemed related to the pathology of the recipient.