A 15-Year Review of Corneal Transplant in Brazil

To analyze 15-year of corneal transplant in Brazil.

Cross-sectional, retrospective, observational, and analytical study, between available data from the Brazilian Transplant Registry (January 2002-December 2016), collected by the Brazilian Association of Organ Transplantation was performed. The variables analyzed per year were number of corneal transplants, corneal transplants per million people (pmp), corneal transplant teams, and individuals on the waiting list for corneal transplants. Quantitative variables were expressed by their respective values. To verify the relationship of time with the variables, the Spearman correlation test was applied, adopting P<0.05 for rejection of the null hypothesis.

Evaluation of the data from 2002 to 2016 revealed an increase in number of (1) corneal transplants (4,976-14,534-approximately 292% in 15 years; P<0.0001); (2) corneal transplants pmp (29.4-71.1 pmp; P<0.0001); (3) productivity of corneal transplants teams (40.1-79 transplants by each team per year; P=0.067); (4) effectiveness in meeting the Brazilian population demand for corneal transplants per year (18.2%-57.0%; P<0.0001); (5) potential donors (P<0.0001), effective donors (P<0.0001), and nondonors (P<0.0001). There was a reduction in the number of patients on the waiting list (19,189-10,923; P=0.056).

Despite the progress in the last decade, the number of corneal transplants in Brazil cannot meet the growing population demand. Thus, this study suggests the implementation of more effective public policies of corneal transplants in Brazil, to minimize disparities in national territory, adequately meet the population demand, and reduce the time in waiting lists for corneal transplants.