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Updated: May 12, 2026
Corneal Donor Tissue Preparation for Descemet's Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty
Published on: September 17, 2014
The use of ophthalmic viscosurgical devices during donor's corneal harvesting
Elite Bor1, Dan H Bourla, Igor Kaiserman
1Department of Ophthalmology, Rabin medical Center, Petah-Tikva, Israel.
Purpose Of The Study:
To evaluate the protective effect of Biolon (sodium-hyaluronate 1%) use on corneal endothelium, during donor's corneal harvesting.
Materials And Methods:
A prospective, randomized, double blind, comparative study was performed on 120 corneas donated from 60 donors. One cornea from each donor (n = 60) was harvested using intracameral injection of ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD), and the fellow cornea with no use of OVD (n = 60, control group). Endothelial cell density (ECD) values were obtained at the center of each corneal graft with a specular microscope one day after harvesting.
Results:
ECD in the OVD group were 2839 ± 412.5 cells/mm(2) and in the control group 2748 ± 429.7 cells/mm(2). (p = 0.03). Distribution curve of the difference in ECD between the OVD and no OVD eyes showed that 47% of the donors had > 100 cells/mm2 difference, and 32% of donors had >200 cells/mm(2) difference in favor of the OVD group.
Conclusions:
Intracameral OVD injection during corneal graft harvesting may protect the endothelium from the mechanical damage induced during the procedure. Further investigation is needed before routine the use of intracameral OVD should be considered in this setting.
