Corneal donations up, but transplants lag at AIIMS – ET HealthWorld

NEW DELHI: Though the number of corneal tissue collections has increased a hundredfold in the last one year, there is still a huge shortfall. According to the National Eye Bank, it collected 872 tissues between March 2021 and April this year, up 394 tissues from the corresponding period last year.

However, despite the healthy rise in donations, the waiting list of pending transplants remains lengthy. At present, there are over 1,300 patients awaiting a corneal transplant at the eye centre in AIIMS.

The bank there recorded a utilisation rate of 88% from March 2021 to April this year, with 765 corneal patients undergoing transplantation. The year earlier, only 311 transplants had been carried out. In 2018-2019, the national eye bank had the maximum donations of 2,500 corneal tissues.

“The quality of donor tissues has also improved. Collection is faster and we conduct a better assessment of the tissue quality,” said Dr JS Titiyal, chief, Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS. “The demand is for around 3,000 surgeries a year and the waiting list at RP Centre has gone up three times.”
Titiyal noted, “Most corneal disorders are progressive and other diseases such as glaucoma are also associated. Corneal disease can deteriorate so much that after a stage, nothing more can be done. We don’t know how many patients went blind in the last two years while waiting for a donor tissue. We have a priority list of patients and conduct surgeries accordingly.”

The National Eye Bank has so far collected 32,000 corneas in 57 years and has visually rehabilitated over 23,000 corneal blind patients. Wastage of corneal tissues is a criminal crime under the circumstances. There are some states where more corneal tissues than patients needing them are collected.

“One corneal tissue can be used in two or three patients,” said Titiyal. “We are trying to see if the tissue can be divided to be used for more patients. We are working on a tele-consultation app through which we can counsel potential donors and recipients. The app will be helpful for the recipients because they can be alerted when we have the tissue.”
Dr Aarti Vij, head of Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation, said that AIIMS had started a death notification system so doctors did not miss any news about a death. “When a patient dies, an alert is immediately sent. The families are then approached for organ harvesting. There are screening criteria for corneal tissue. If the criteria are met, we request the family to consider donation of the corneal tissue,” said Vij.