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Corneal diseases are responsible for around four to five percent of the causes of reversible blindness in the world and affect more than eight million people, making corneal transplantation necessary, as this is the main treatment to restore vision in patients with opacities of the cornea. Medical knowledge regarding the different types of corneal transplantation has made this an extremely safe and effective procedure, having been widely performed today. To this end, eye banks play an essential role in providing high-quality tissues to corneal surgeons through the harvesting, processing, evaluation, classification, storage, and proper distribution of ocular tissues. Therefore, this study aims to present a narrative review of the different approaches to organizing eye banks and the cornea supply process recorded in the literature. The study consists of a narrative review in which 26 articles were selected through research in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, AND LILACS databases. There is, globally, an undeniable gap between the supply and demand for donor corneas. It is necessary to improve appropriate training techniques and methods for surgeons and technicians to routinely evaluate donor viability criteria, in addition to raising public awareness about corneal transplantation. Model eye bank systems should be mirrored and serve as a reference for centers with a deficit in offering donor corneas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on corneal donations and the operation of the eye bank in the Zona da Mata Mineira Region. Methods: Retrospective analysis of medical records of all donations obtained by the Banco de Olhos Hospital Regional Dr. João Penido/FHEMIG, Juiz de Fora - MG between 2017 and 2022, comparing pre (January/2017 - March 11/2020) and post-pandemic (12/March/2020 - December/2022) periods. Results: There was a reduction in cornea donations and the number of corneal tissues released for transplants in the post-pandemic period, 68.2% and 67.3%, respectively. There was no statistical difference in gender, average age, basic cause of death of donors, in the number of non-preserved eyeballs and non-preserved corneas between the pre- and post-pandemic periods. The rates of release of preserved corneas and use of donations were higher in the post-pandemic period, 86.5% vs 79.0%, and 68.1% vs 63.0%, respectively. The number of corneal tissues released for optical and tectonic transplants were statistically higher in the pre-pandemic period (P<0.001). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on cornea donations and the eye bank's operations in the Zona da Mata Mineira region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify the characteristics of cornea transplant after transplantation. Methods: Cross-sectional, retrospective study with quantitative approach. Research was conducted at Banco de Olhos do Ceará and at three other private transplant centers in Fortaleza. Medical records of transplant patients from October 2020 to September 2022 were analyzed within one year of the procedure. Results: 300 medical records of patients undergoing corneal transplantation were collected, of which 289 (96.3%) corneas demonstrated good transparency. Regarding visual acuity, 62 transplants (20.7%) presented mild vision loss, with 129 (43%) presenting normal intraocular pressure. Conclusion: The characteristics of post-transplant corneas vary depending on the recovery phase and the success of graft integration. The tissue showed good transparency, with visual acuity with slight loss of vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this paper is to evaluate the profile of the cases of conjuntivitis treated in the emergency department of the Banco de Olhos Hospital, emphasizing the infectious conjunctivitis, and compare before and after the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic and social isolation, both in public and private health care system. Methods: A retrospective and transversal study where electronic files of the patients who visited the emergency department between March and June of 2019 and 2020 were reviewed. Results: A significant reduction in the number of consultations at the emergency department was observed after the beginning of the pandemic. From March to June 2019, 21.678 visits were made. In the same period of 2020, this number was 14.194, a drop of 34.5%. The rate of visits having conjunctivitis as main cause also dropped significantly. Infectious conjunctivitis was the one who showed the highest decrease. In 2019, it was responsible for 30.2% of the visits and, in 2020, for 15.5%. There were no changes regarding the gender, but a significantly increase in patients’ age was observed. Conclusion: The study showed a dramatic reduction in the number of visits at the emergency department of ophthalmology regarding infectious conjunctivitis after the beginning of the pandemic, and we believe that the cause is related with an increase of hygiene care, social isolation and restrictions caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To outline the epidemiological profile of cornea donors and recipients before reaching queue zero. Methods: Epidemiological study, of quantitative approach, with transversal, analytical design, analyzing database records from the Health Secretary of the State of Ceará, from 2013 to 2015. Results: We obtained 1,558 cornea donors and 2,287 cornea recipients from 2013 to 2015. Most donors were male, capital residents, from 21 to 40 years old. Of donated eyeballs, 14.52% were disposed, due to poor condition, infiltration or positive serology. The recipients were predominantly women over 60 years old. The procedures were mostly elective, due to bullous keratopathy (28%). Regarding emergency transplants, ulcer (38.51%) and retransplant (35.14%) were most prevalent. Predominantly, transplants were funded by the Unified Health System. Conclusion: The majority of patients who were submitted to corneal transplantation are senile, especially females, therefore should be cautiously observed. On the other hand, donors are mainly male and young, reflecting the high number of tragic accidents. The surgery for bullous keratopathy is the most frequent among elective transplants, while the ulcer surgery is the main cause of emergency procedures. The fact that most surgeries were financed by the Unified Health System reflects the importance of this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aimed to trace the epidemiological profile of donors of corneas in Piauí through searches in medical records. Methods: This is a descriptive, quantitative, observational, cross-sectional and retrospective study that aims to evaluate data obtained from medical records of 811 donors of corneas from the Getúlio Vargas Hospital in Teresina-PI, in the period of January 1, 2010 to 31 December 2016. Results: The study showed an increase in the number of donors over the period from 2010 to 2014, but decreased over the period from 2015 to 2016. There was also a predominance of male donors, aged between 21 and 59 years, from the city of Teresina and with regard to the donor's cause of death, the majority of deaths occurred due to external causes of morbidity and mortality (which include, mainly, violent deaths due to automobile accidents, suicides, stab wounds or fire) and the second largest cause was represented by diseases of the circulatory system. Conclusions: For the success of this process, it is essential to make the population aware of the importance and the need for organ and tissue donations for the benefit of sick patients, saving lives or rehabilitating them and, thus, allowing these individuals to participate fully in social life. and the usual economic activities of most citizens. Therefore, it is necessary to invest in programs, training and also to increase the number of qualified professionals, from the capture team to the transplant team, all of which are extremely important for the increase in corneal uptake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the causes for discarding corneas at the Eye Bank of the Federal District in Brasilia, Brazil, and describe the social and demographic variables and Causa Mortis of cornea donors from 2014 to 2017. Methods: We conducted an exploratory and social-epidemiologic descriptive study regarding cornea donation. The data base information was obtained from the corneal donor's medical records analysis. All of the potential donors' records (cause of death, cause of cornea discard, month of donation, age, gender, and time of death, corneal enucleation and preservation), from 2014 to 2017 were included in the study. Results: We looked at 1,574 corneal donor notifications. Demographic characteristics displayed significant differences in gender distribution (male, 74.8% and female, 25.2%), and the average donor age was 40 ± 15.9 years. 25% of the causes of death were from cardiovascular disease followed by 19.6% from sharp or blunt instrument injury, 14.2% resulted from multiple traumas. We described 3,074 donated corneas from the DF Eye Bank, where 2.6% has not been uptaken. Of those 3,074 corneal tissues, nearly 60% (n=1,836) have been transplanted and 40% (n=1,238) were discarded. Regarding the causes of discard, 68% (n=841) were due to positive or indeterminate serological blood tests and 39% (n=486) because of matureness (expired medium guaranteed period of corneal preservation). Conclusions: Specific issues such as violent causes of death, gender disproportion and total time of corneal processing can be better managed to reduce procurement times, and availability, of corneal tissue for transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe the profile of corneal donations obtained by Ocular Tissue Bank, Hospital Getúlio Vargas (BTOC-HGV), assess the quality of the captured tissue and list the indications for corneal transplant. Methods: Retrospective study of registered donors in BTOC-HGV in the period 2008-2011. Collected data were: age, gender and cause of death of the donor, enucleation time, preservation time, quality of the donated cornea, causes of discards and indications for penetrating keratoplasty in BTOC. Results: Were analyzed 311 records of donor cornea BTOC-HGV. The number of donations increased from 9 in 2008 to 80 in 2009, 109 in 2010 and 113 in 2011. Most donors were male. The average age of the donors was 43.00 ± 16.01 years. The majority of transplanted corneas (78.6%) was optics. Were discarded 7.16% of corneal optics, mostly by new tectonic classification and detection of positive serology. The time of enucleation was 3.77 ± 2.18 hours and preservation was 6.86 ± 6.10 hours. The most frequent causes of death were external causes, followed by diseases of the circulatory, respiratory, digestive and genitourinary systems. The main indication for transplantation was bullous keratopathy, followed by keratoconus and corneal perforation. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the existence of factors associated with quality of corneas by BTOC as age, time between enucleation and preservation and cause of death. The main indication for transplantation was bullous keratopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to describe the process of organ and tissue donation, tissue harvesting, queue and transplants as a health policy in Brazil and in the State of Rio de Janeiro, with emphasis on procedures for corneal transplantation. The low reporting of possible donors associated with a high rate of negative family in donation, associated with the insufficient number of corneas provided by Eye Banks are the main factors limiting the increase in the number of corneal transplants in Brazil. The creation of the Rio de Janeiro Eye Bank associated with policies that encourage increased reporting and collection of corneas aims to reduce the waiting list for corneal transplantation in Rio de Janeiro State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]