1. How important is corneal donation?
We all know that blindness is the most painful thing, and more than 10 million patients worldwide are blind because of keratoconus! Corneal blindness is the world’s fourth leading blindness-causing disease! There are 2-4 million blind people with keratoconus in China! However, most of these patients can regain their sight through corneal transplantation. But the corneas for transplantation need to be donated after death, and without corneal donation, corneal transplantation cannot be performed. Therefore, corneal donation is related to the lives of millions of blind people and the happiness of millions of families.
2.How many corneas can be donated in China per year?
At present, only a few hundred corneas are donated in China every year! Compared to the 2 million patients waiting for surgery, this is a drop in the bucket! Counting imports and other means, the annual corneal transplantation volume is less than 5,000 cases. At this rate, it will take about 400 years to finish the 2 million patients we have, not counting the new patients added every year! If this continues, the vast majority of patients will not see their parents, children and grandchildren for the rest of their lives, the sunshine river!
3, how to donate corneas?
Corneal donation China has legislation, if you want to donate corneas, you should find a qualified eye bank, the Red Cross, etc. to apply for consultation.
The specific process is as follows.
(1) First of all, you need to submit an oral application to the eye bank.
(2) After the eye bank staff communicate with the applicant to confirm his true wishes, family members know and agree.
(3) The applicant will sign the volunteer letter for donation.
(4) Formally become an eye bank volunteer.
(5) When the volunteer is in danger, he/she or the delegate contacts the eye bank.
(6) The eye bank staff will go to the site to obtain corneas and related medical information to complete the corneal donation.
4.What kind of corneas can be donated?
In principle, anyone’s cornea can be donated! Eye bank staff will conduct strict tests to screen out corneas that can be qualified for transplantation, and those that are not suitable for surgery can be used for scientific research. To ensure the safety and effectiveness of the surgery, there are strict medical screening criteria both at home and abroad, and there are hundreds of these criteria. In general, infectious diseases that may endanger the health of the patient receiving the transplant and affect the outcome of the surgery are contraindications. Most eye banks will rule out most corneas that are not suitable for transplantation before they are donated and will only accept qualified corneas.
A few more basic principles.
1) The optimal age is usually between 4 and 70 years. Special circumstances require testing by eye bank technicians and physicians to determine if special applications are possible, such as emergency treatment for eye perforation.
2) A range of infectious diseases such as AIDS, syphilis, leukemia, progeria, rabies and other neurological diseases, and lesions in the cornea itself are not suitable for application.
(3) The time of passing away is too long, such as more than 48 hours, and can no longer be applied.
5.How long can the donated cornea be kept?
(1) 6-12 hours after the donor’s death is the best time period to obtain corneas, any longer will affect the activity of corneal endothelium and can only be used for lamellar corneal transplantation.
2) If there is no corneal preservation solution to be used for penetrating corneal transplant or endothelial transplant, it can only be kept in the eye bank refrigerator for 24-48 hours.
(3) Currently, regular eye banks use medium-term preservation solution to preserve corneas, which can be stored in the 4°C refrigerator for about 10 days. This time allows for adequate testing and labs, and the patient can be adequately prepared for surgery.
(4) Overseas there are organ culture preservation methods that can be preserved for one month. Due to the current lack of donor corneas in China, it is generally not necessary to preserve and other patients.
5）Ultra-low temperature freezing can be preserved for a long time, but the effect has not yet reached the ideal degree, and can only be used for emergency or lamellar transplantation.
(6) for lamellar corneal transplantation can be preserved by long-term cryopreservation, with good results.
For patients who are blind due to corneal disease, corneal transplantation is the only way to end the darkness, and a piece of cornea can give a person a lifetime of light. Charity is boundless, everyone can do it; pay attention to corneal donation, participate in corneal donation, let the sunshine and life be continued in another way! Let the love pass to every corner of the bright world!