This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
Have we really entered the era when corneal surgeons can routinely schedule and operate on patients who require penetrating keratoplasty? Have the ingredients of the TV drama, the collection of donor material from remote places, the rush to transfer the donor to the operating surgeon, the long wait by the telephone for the call summoning the patient to immediate surgery—have all of these become a thing of the past? The answers, of course, depend on whether preserved corneal tissue is as good as "fresh" donor material for penetrating keratoplasty.
The book Corneal Preservation is the report of a symposium held in Gainesville, Fla, in December 1970, bringing together ophthalmic surgeons, basic scientists, and Eye Bank personnel to discuss banking of donor material, preservation techniques, the changes that occur in eyes that have undergone preservation, and the application of these methods to the actual transplantation of tissue into human eyes.