Characterization of cornea donors at a tissue center in the city of Medellin, Colombia

TL;DR

This study characterizes cornea donors in Medellin, Colombia, showing young donors due to high violence rates lead to high-quality corneal tissue.

Contribution

The paper provides the first epidemiological characterization of corneal donors in Medellin, Colombia.

Findings

Cornea donors in Medellin are predominantly young due to high rates of violence-related deaths.

Young donors result in high endothelial cell counts and good tissue viability.

The study reports lower tissue discard rates compared to similar studies.

Abstract

The cornea transplant is considered the most frequently performed type of transplant in the world, with a demand that has been increasing in recent years. An observational descriptive study was conducted, focusing on the ocular tissue extracted from cadaveric donors from January 2019 to December 2021 at the Red Cross Eye Bank in Medellin, Colombia. This is the first epidemiological characterization of corneal donor tissues within the eye banks of our city, where high rates of violence-related deaths explain that tissue donors are mostly young individuals. This, in turn, results in excellent counts of endothelial cells and tissue viability in their microscopic studies. Additionally, there are lower rates of discarded tissues compared to similar studies.