Corneal transplantation with donor corneas stored in moist chamber and chondroitin sulfate-containing medium.

Two donor cornea preservation methods, moist chamber and chondroitin sulfate-containing medium, were prospectively compared clinically. Paired corneas from 11 donors were divided into two groups: moist chamber group (mean preservation time 9.1 h) and Optisol (Chiron Co., Irvine, CA, U.S.A.) group (mean preservation time 70.8 h). They were compared in terms of their clinical course, corneal thickness, and endothelial density. Recipient age, sex, and diseases were matched between the groups. Nine of 11 corneas in the moist chamber group, and 10 in the Optisol group remained clear at 6 months after surgery. Decreases of the endothelial density were 28.4% in the moist chamber group, and 30.1% in the Optisol group at 6 months after surgery. No differences were found in either endothelial density or corneal thickness throughout the observation period. It was shown that the corneoscleral preservation using chondroitin sulfate-containing medium was as useful as the conventional moist chamber preservation. Considering the requirement for longer donor preservation time, corneoscleral preservation should be adopted in areas other than the United States.