Abstract
Presentation Description :
Limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) is seen in many ocular disorders and leads to functional blindness when it is severe. Limbal stem cell (LSC) transplantation in the form of keratolimbal graft or cultivated LSCs has been the main treatment option to reconstruct a normal corneal epithelial surface. Successful outcome has been reported in many case series since 1997. However, donor cells were not always detected in the recipients of successful allogeneic transplant. In addition, because the criteria of diagnosing and staging LSCD have not been established, there are no standard measures to compare clinical outcomes among studies. The exact mechanism(s) of how the transplanted LSCs reconstruct the corneal epithelial surface are not well understood. Therefore, standardization of the LSCD diagnosis and staging of the disease severity along with the standardization of the LSC transplantation and cultivation protocol would be necessary to evaluate the outcome of LSC transplantation.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.