[Analysis of the transplanted corneas at Santa Casa de São Paulo Eye Bank].

PURPOSE: To identify the donors' profile and evaluate the factors influencing the quality of the donated corneas in Santa Casa Eye Bank, from July, 2000 to January, 2004.

METHODS

Data from the charts of 151 patients submitted to penetrating keratoplasty, registered in Santa Casa Eye Bank, from July, 2000 to January 2004 resulted in 180 surgeries.

RESULTS

Mean age of the donors was 57.57 +/- 19.74 years old (varied from 9 months to 97 years old) and 54.44% were male. The cause of death was predominantly cardiovascular (50.55%), followed by consumptive diseases (17.77%), trauma (14.44%) and others (17.22%). Considering the quality of the cornea, there was no statistically significant difference among the three main groups of cause of death (p=0.527) and time from death to corneal preservation (p=0.053). There was a statistically significant difference between quality of donated corneas above 61 years old and other ages (p=0.037).

CONCLUSION

The most frequent cause of death was cardiovascular, followed by pulmonary diseases and trauma. We could also note that factors inherent to donor like age (>60 years old) predisposed to a worse anatomical quality of the cornea and factors like cause of death and time between death and preservation did not influence the quality of the cornea.