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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Ophthalmology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1415515

Medical and economic impacts of managing corneas from older donors at the tissue bank A single-center retrospective study spanning over 12 years

Provisionally accepted
Anne-Sophie Hatzfeld Anne-Sophie Hatzfeld 1Nicolas Germain Nicolas Germain 1,2Patrice Maboudou Patrice Maboudou 3Melanie Dhayer Melanie Dhayer 2Philippe Marchetti Philippe Marchetti 1,2*
  • 1 Banque de Tissus de Lille, Centre Hospitalier Regional et Universitaire de Lille, Lille, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
  • 2 INSERM UMR1277 Hétérogénéité, Plasticité et Résistance aux Thérapies Anticancéreuses (CANTHER), Lille, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
  • 3 Service de Biochimie et Biologie Moléculaire, Centre Hospitalier Regional et Universitaire de Lille, Lille, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Aim: To evaluate the impact of corneas from donors over 80 years of age on the activity of the North of France Tissue Bank and to determine the potential cost implications for banks using corneas from older donors.We analyzed data from a single-center retrospective cohort study of 6,023 corneas preserved at the Lille Tissue Bank between 2012 and 2023. Donors, unrestricted by age, were divided into two groups: younger (≤ 80 years) and older (> 80 years). Corneas were categorized based on endothelial cell density (ECD). Data were collected from patients who underwent corneal transplantation. A financial impact model was created to assess the effects of using corneas from different age groups on the overall benefits of corneal transplant procedures.The average donor age was 67.5 +/-14.5 years. The median age of donors gradually increased from 66 to 73 years over the 12-year study period, with donors over 80 years old representing more than 24% since 2021. Corneas from older donors had a higher discard rate (62.53% vs. 39.66%) due to poor endothelial quality and serological concerns (both P<0.0001). Additionally, these corneas had lower ECD, with a larger proportion deemed unsuitable for grafting due to low ECD (30% vs. 8.2%). Corneas from younger donors were more often used for endothelial transplants, which require higher ECD. The mean economic benefit per cornea showed a moderate negative correlation with donor age. The net benefit of corneal transplants decreased as the proportion of donors aged over 80 years increased. It is predicted that a net benefit of zero would be attained when the proportion of donors over 80 years is 44.4%.Using corneas from donors over 80 years of age can help alleviate the shortage of donor tissue and be effective if certain quality standards are met. However, additional costs incurred by eye banks must be factored into this equation

    Keywords: Cornea, tissue bank, Donor, age, storage, Endothelial cell density

    Received: 10 Apr 2024; Accepted: 11 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hatzfeld, Germain, Maboudou, Dhayer and Marchetti. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Philippe Marchetti, INSERM UMR1277 Hétérogénéité, Plasticité et Résistance aux Thérapies Anticancéreuses (CANTHER), Lille, 59000, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

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