In late September, Kensington Health’s Eye Bank of Canada (Ontario Division) achieved an exciting technological advancement in cornea processing. The Eye Bank, which has been processing donated eye tissue to be used in sight-restoring transplant procedures since 1955, prepared Canada’s first-ever pre-loaded DMEK cornea, which was then successfully transplanted at the Kensington Eye Institute.
A Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) is a corneal transplant best suited for diseases that affect the innermost layer of the cornea, such as Fuchs’ dystrophy, an eye disease in which cells lining the inner surface of the cornea slowly start to die off. During this surgery, a single, thin layer of damaged corneal cells is replaced with donor tissue. This precise technique decreases rates of tissue rejection and increases the speed of visual recovery.
Pre-loaded DMEK tissue transplants are an excellent example of the benefits of Kensington Health’s campus of care. After the donated eyes were recovered by and received from Trillium Gift of Life Network, the tissue was prepared at the Eye Bank and simply taken upstairs to the Kensington Eye Institute, where the surgery was performed.
Previously, donated tissue was partially prepared for transplantation in advance, but the process had to be completed in the operating room. Now, the Eye Bank can fully prepare the tissue – all a surgeon needs to do is inject the graft into the patient’s eye. Pre-loading donor tissue eliminates the risk of tissue being damaged in the operating room and cuts the time required to perform the surgery in half.
This technique delivers great results for patients, allows the surgeon to focus on the delicate steps of the cornea transplant surgery, and frees up precious operating room resources so that more corneal transplants can be performed.
“I feel fortunate to be a cornea surgeon in Ontario and the first to experience this wonderful advancement in corneal transplantation technology,” said Dr. Clara Chan, Medical Director at the Eye Bank and the surgeon who performed the surgery.
The Eye Bank worked in collaboration with Dr. Stephan Ong Tone, a corneal specialist and researcher at the University of Toronto, to rigorously study and validate this new process prior to its first use.
This delicate tissue is carefully prepared by Jenny Chai, Technical Coordinator and Certified Eye Bank Technologist. Dr. Chan credits Jenny with making this advancement possible. “Her fingers do ballet,” she says. “It’s beautiful to watch.”
“From research, to testing, to tissue collection, preparation and transplantation, collaboration was key to making this happen,” says Christine Humphreys, Director of the Eye Bank. “I’m grateful to everyone for their contributions.”
Additional staff are currently being trained, to increase the number of pre-loaded DMEK grafts the Eye Bank can prepare each day.
This technology has the potential to reduce wait times for corneal transplant, but that will only be possible if enough donated tissue is available. Ontarians can transform the life of someone suffering from eye disease and restore sight in those suffering from corneal blindness by registering to be a donor at beadonor.ca.