Evaluation of microbial contamination of corneal transplants: one-year report from a French regional eye bank.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to report the rate of corneal transplant microbial contamination in a single major eye bank and to identify the contributive factors.

METHODS

The contamination rate of 1156 organ-cultured corneas harvested in 2010 in a single eye bank (EFS Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Besançon, France) was studied together with the following factors: age, sex, tissue-recovery method (single or multiorgan donors), death-to-excision time, excision-to-reception time, cause of death, positive serology, and endothelial cell count. Student t test for quantitative data was used for statistical comparisons between groups. Qualitative data were assessed using the χ test.

RESULTS

The contamination rate was 5.5%. Most contaminations were of bacterial origin (77.9%), with Staphylococcus species (62.3%) being predominant. Fungal contaminations (19.1%) were dominated by Candida species (76.9%). Death resulting from cancer was related to a higher risk of corneal contamination (P < 0.001). The other factors were not related to an increased risk of contamination.

CONCLUSIONS

The rate of microbiological contamination of corneal transplants remains low. However, special caution should be exercised with grafts collected from patients dying from cancer. To minimize this risk, further studies on the antibacterial effect of the conservation media should be conducted in the context of increased bacterial resistance.