A U.S. National Eye Institute-funded study randomly assigned cornea recipients to get either younger or older tissue and found the corneas of both groups survived just as well five years later. The researchers found that tissue from donors aged 66 to 75 had the same five-year success rate (86 percent) as corneas from donors aged 12 to 65.
The research, coordinated by the Jaeb Center for Health Research in Tampa, Florida, included 1,101 patients, aged 40 to 80, enrolled by 105 surgeons at 80 sites. The patients were followed for five years after corneal transplant.
A transplant was considered a failure if a repeat corneal transplant was needed or if the transplanted cornea was cloudy for at least three months.
Dwight Cavanagh, the principal investigator for the study said, "The majority of donors have been older, but there has been a great prejudice against using older tissue for fear it was going to wear out faster. So many doctors pass on tissue from older donors."
"What matters is how many cells are alive in the tissue regardless of the age of the donor. And there are plenty of people of older age who have high cell counts," said Cavanagh.
The cornea is the clear covering for the front of the eye, crucial for helping it focus light. In the United States, more than 33,000 corneal transplants are done each year. And supply of donor corneas can become affected due to the aging population, stricter regulations. The use of corneas from older donors could expand the donor pool by as much as 20 percent to 35 percent.
