Cornea Society nomenclature for ocular surface rehabilitative procedures

In the past 20 years, there has been tremendous development in ocular surface rehabilitation and, through better understanding and improvements in analytic and culture techniques, a variety of new procedures have been developed. Differing techniques have been used internationally and often similar terminology is used when procedures could be considered to be quite different or vice versa. To communicate clearly and to compare techniques and outcomes, it was determined that an agreed international nomenclature was necessary.

A subcommittee was established by The Cornea Society. An initial steering group of international experts with special interest in ocular surface was assembled and established broad principles for the nomenclature based on a previous nomenclature.

The nomenclature for procedures was based on several parameters, including a) anatomic source of tissue transplanted, for example conjunctival, keratolimbal or mucosal, b) whether the source was autologous or allogeneic (cadaveric or living related), and c) cell culture techniques. For example, an expanded cell culture of cadaveric limbal tissue was named ex-vivo cultivated cadaveric limbal allograft (EvC-LAL).

Agreed nomenclature for transplantation procedures used in ocular surface rehabilitation has been developed, and use of this common terminology should help communication among those involved in this field.