Impact of Sepsis on Corneal Transplantation

Corneal transplantation is an exceedingly common and pivotal procedure in the management of corneal disease. The increasing demand for corneal transplantation underscores the importance of current guidelines and methodologies for donor tissue screening and collection. A recent FDA notice of inspectional focus on United States eye banks brought concerns about donor sepsis being a source for recipient infections and improper eye bank screening practices. However, there is evidence to suggest that septic donors do not increase the risk of transmission of infections associated with corneal grafts. This is additionally important given the growing need for more corneal graft tissue to maximize the use of suitable tissue. Eye banks also have a number of protocols to consider when screening donors for the presence of sepsis, providing a unique challenge given the broadness of the term. This paper provides an overview of trends in clarification of the term "sepsis" as well as the screening protocol in eye banks.