Evaluating the effect of corneal tissue preservation on graft survival after penetrating keratoplasty

: To study the various tissue preparation and preservation which affect the quality of donor tissue along with the effect of recipient factors on short term graft survival. The ambi-spective study was carried out in order to know predictive value of factors like donor, tissue preservation and recipient factors and the extent of the effect on short term graft survival. A total of 26 eyes of 13 donors were studied, out of which 23 eyes had undergone penetrating keratoplasty. Out of 23 eyes, 3 eyes had undergone therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty, 16 eyes undergone optical penetrating keratoplasty and 4 eyes undergone triple procedures; penetrating keratoplasty with cataract extraction with posterior chamber intra ocular lens implantation. The results of penetrating keratoplasty were studied over a period of 3 months with follow ups at 1 week, 1 month and the final follow up at the 3rd month. The indication for penetrating keratoplasty in recipients in this study were essentially optical and therapeutic. The Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS 23.0 version. Categorical variables were described by taking percentages (analyzed using Chi Square test; Subgroup analysis was based on Adjusted Standardized Residuals). The variables with p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Recipients with donor tissue from eyes retrieved within 4 hours of death and shorter preservation to utilization time have shown better graft survival. Practices including lid closure and eye drop instillation should be encouraged. Hospital cornea retrieval program should be promoted to ensure lesser death to enucleation time and preservation time for better graft outcome.