Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the amount of eye bank procured tissue available to vision researchers based on post-mortem interval (PMI, donor death to tissue preservation time) restrictions.
Methods :
Retrospective record review of donor eyes recovered specifically for research by VisionGift between Oct. 1st 2021- Sept. 30th 2022. Data for donor date and times of death, recovery interval, and arrival time at the eye bank were extracted. Durations for time of death-to-recovery and death-to-arrival were both calculated. Donor records were also examined for three commonly requested ocular diseases: AMD, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy, The data was further segmented for tissue checked in during the timeframe when research staff are in office to perform preservations and dissections: Monday-Friday 8am-4pm.
Results :
Eight hundred and four (804) whole eyes from 402 donors were recovered for research during the study period. Aside from eyes with no ocular pathology (excluding previous cataract surgery), 60 eyes were from donors diagnosed with AMD, 76 eyes were from donors with glaucoma, and 30 eyes were from donors with diabetic retinopathy. In total, 440 eyes were recovered within 12 hours of donor death, while only 273 eyes arrived at the eye bank in less than 12 hours post-mortem. In contrast, 602 eyes were recovered within 16 hours of donor death and 454 eyes arrived at the eye bank within this time window. After segmenting the data into eyes arriving between Monday-Friday 8am-4pm, 88 eyes were recovered and arrived at the eye bank <12 hours post-mortem while 138 eyes arrived <16 hours. Within this more limited time frame for tissue arrival: 10 AMD eyes arrived <12 hours post-mortem and 18 arrived in <16 hours. Four glaucoma eyes arrived <12 hours post-mortem compared to 10 eyes within the 16 hour window. Diabetic Retinopathy eyes follow the same treat with 4 eyes arriving in <12 hours and 6 in <16 hours.
Conclusions :
Increasing the acceptable PMI from just 12 to 16 hours improves tissue availability by at least 50% for tissue from donors with ocular disease and those without. This expansion of the donor pool can aid retina researchers in accelerating the advancement of their studies. Current research in our lab aims to compare global gene and protein expression and may support extending PMI for eye bank tissue not procured for transplant.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.