Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 20, 2026
Full-Field Optical Coherence Microscopy for Histology-Like Analysis of Stromal Features in Corneal Grafts
Published on: October 21, 2022
Are polymegethism, pleomorphism, and "poor swelling" valid discard parameters in immediate postmortem evaluation of
Marieke Bruinsma1, Jessica T Lie, Esther A Groeneveld-van Beek
1Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Purpose:
To study the validity of endothelial polymegethism, pleomorphism, and "poor swelling" as tissue discard parameters in the immediate postmortem evaluation of human donor corneal endothelium.
Methods:
We retrospectively evaluated the quality of the endothelium at first and second evaluations for all processed corneas exhibiting moderate polymegethism, pleomorphism, or "poor swelling" in our eye bank over a 5-year period.
Results:
Out of 2008 eyes qualifying for our study, 422 corneas (21%) showed polymegethism, pleomorphism, or poor swelling at the first tissue evaluation immediately after excision of the corneoscleral button. In 363 (86%) of these corneas, a normal endothelial mosaic was observed at the second tissue evaluation after 7 to 21 days of organ culture, whereas only 59 (14%) still showed persistent polymegethism, pleomorphism, or "poor swelling" at that time point.
Conclusions:
A recovery of normal endothelial cell mosaic and "normal swelling" at the second evaluation suggests that cellular contour parameters do not relate to tissue viability, but rather to a cellular stress reaction. If so, the validity of endothelial cellular contour morphology as an early parameter in assessing the suitability of a donor cornea for transplantation may be reconsidered.
