A magical idea comes to my mind when we discussed about allogenic corneal graft. It was about a patient who had a perforated cornea and was in need for cornea transplant. There were basically two types of grafts available (or not so available) in Hong Kong eye bank, namely the frozen graft and freshly-prepared graft.
Frozen graft can preserve the eye but not the vision as it was all white and light cannot penetrate. Whearas, the fresh graft which has life-span of around 1-2 weeks, can revive the vision if a successful operation is performed. The patient was due to receive a frozen graft for her damaged eye, but one day just before the operation, the surgeon was called that a fresh graft was just available.
Without hesitation, the surgeon requested that precious one and made it to the patient. Beyond saving the eye, the vision and quality of life was resurrected.
But then we face another problem after the transplant: rejection. That's what my idea comes: can we have a match up between the donor and recipient beforehand so to make sure that the rejection rate can be lowered?
Evidence says yes and no. According to National Eye institute, "A study supported by the National Eye Institute (NEI) suggests that matching the blood type, but not tissue type, of the recipient with that of the cornea donor may improve the success rate of corneal transplants in people at high risk for graft failure. Approximately 20 percent of corneal transplant patients--between 6,000-8,000 a year--reject their donor corneas. The NEI-supported study, called the Collaborative Corneal Transplantation Study, found that high-risk patients may reduce the likelihood of corneal rejection if their blood types match those of the cornea donors."
To some extent, we should be always thankful when a timely graft is available when we need, but it will be fantastic if it is matched in blood type.
Frozen graft can preserve the eye but not the vision as it was all white and light cannot penetrate. Whearas, the fresh graft which has life-span of around 1-2 weeks, can revive the vision if a successful operation is performed. The patient was due to receive a frozen graft for her damaged eye, but one day just before the operation, the surgeon was called that a fresh graft was just available.
Without hesitation, the surgeon requested that precious one and made it to the patient. Beyond saving the eye, the vision and quality of life was resurrected.
But then we face another problem after the transplant: rejection. That's what my idea comes: can we have a match up between the donor and recipient beforehand so to make sure that the rejection rate can be lowered?
Evidence says yes and no. According to National Eye institute, "A study supported by the National Eye Institute (NEI) suggests that matching the blood type, but not tissue type, of the recipient with that of the cornea donor may improve the success rate of corneal transplants in people at high risk for graft failure. Approximately 20 percent of corneal transplant patients--between 6,000-8,000 a year--reject their donor corneas. The NEI-supported study, called the Collaborative Corneal Transplantation Study, found that high-risk patients may reduce the likelihood of corneal rejection if their blood types match those of the cornea donors."
To some extent, we should be always thankful when a timely graft is available when we need, but it will be fantastic if it is matched in blood type.
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