Improved corneal storage for penetrating keratoplasties in humans

A group of 92 patients, who had penetrating keratoplasties with donor corneas that were stored for up to 7 days in M-K media, had 90% clear grafts 2 months postoperatively and about 80% at 6 months. A comparison of the postoperative corneal thickness measurements was made of the patients receiving donor corneas stored by cryopreservation for prolonged times in moist chambers for less than 24 hours, or in M-K media for several days. There was no statistical difference between the 3 storage methods during the 10 week follow-up nor was there any difference between 72 hours and 96 hours of storage in M-K media.