Comparison of Corneal Tissue Profile of Pseudophakic and Phakic Donors

To compare the endothelial quality of corneas obtained from pseudophakic donors with age-matched phakic controls.

Retrospective analysis of 100 corneas each from pseudophakic and phakic eyes with donor age ≥60 years in both the groups was performed. The endothelial cell density, coefficient of variation, and percentage of hexagonal cells obtained by specular microscopy were compared between the two groups. The cut-off level of endothelial cell density (ECD) taken for optical keratoplasty was 2,000 cells/mm2.

The male and female donors constituted 60% (n=120) and 40% (n=80), respectively. The mean age of the donors was 66.9±7.3 years in the phakic group and 69.9±7.7 years in pseudophakic group. The mean ECD in the phakic group was 2757.6±328.5 cells/mm2 and that in the pseudophakic group was 2225.5±471.9 cells/mm2 (P<0.0001). The mean coefficient of variation in the phakic group was 37.1±5.0 and that in the pseudophakic group was 38.6±11.1 (P=0.234). The mean percentage of hexagonality in the phakic group and the pseudophakic group was 52.0±6.4% and 51.2±7.2%, respectively (P=0.414). Both in univariate and multivariate linear regression analysis, age of the donor was found to be negatively associated in predicting ECD (P=0.002 and P=0.003, respectively). Sixty-nine and thirty-three corneas from the phakic and pseudophakic donor pool were used respectively.

Difference in ECD between the phakic and the pseudophakic donor group was found to be statistically significant. The ECD in the pseudophakic group was found to be above the cut-off limit required for keratoplasty. Hence, pseudophakic corneas may also be used for transplantation.