10,000th corneal donation transplanted at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg
69-year-old can see well again thanks to donation / Lions Cornea Bank at the Eye Center has been facilitating transplants for more than 18 years
The Lions Eye Bank Baden-Württemberg at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg's Department of Ophthalmology has been helping to restore or preserve people's sight for many years. The 10,000th cornea has now been transplanted into a 69-year-old patient by Prof. Dr. Philip Maier,Head of the Cornea Bank at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. This patient had already received a corneal transplant almost 30 years earlier, but the transplant had been rejected in the course of the operation, resulting in blindness of the eye. Just a few months after the new transplant, the patient's visual acuity had returned to almost 60 percent, which led to a significant improvement in his quality of life.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Reinhard, Medical Director of the Eye Center - University of Freiburg, explains: "The Lions Eye Bank Baden-Württemberg has been a truly successful project in the entire region for more than 18 years. This development, with more than 10,000 corneal donations to date, was only possible thanks to the great commitment of the staff of the Eye Center and the entire University Medical Center as well as the cooperating hospitals and clinics in the region and, in particular, the financial and non-material support of the Lions Club, District 111 SW."
In order to be able to continue to provide sufficient transplants for those affected in the region, it is of great importance that the population deals with the topic of corneal donation during their lifetime, so that their own will is known in the event of an emergency. Almost everyone is eligible for corneal donation and corneas can still be removed one or two days after death. In order to improve the situation for waiting patients, we have set up a register for cornea donation in the South Baden region. Any person with full legal capacity can register in this donor register and submit a declaration of intent as to whether or not a cornea donation should take place after death. The entry in the donor register makes it easier for relatives to decide, as the deceased had previously declared their basic willingness to donate - or their basic refusal to donate corneas - in writing.
How do you become a cornea donor?
Potential corneal donors are identified by the staff of the cornea bank after their death. This is done in cooperation with numerous regional hospitals from Offenburg to Villingen-Schwenningen and Müllheim. The willingness to donate corneas is usually clarified with the next of kin and the corneas are removed with their consent. They are then stored in the cornea bank in a quality-assured manner and finally made available for a corneal transplant. Since the Lions Cornea Bank Baden-Württemberg was founded in 2003, more than 5,000 people have declared their willingness to donate corneas and more than 10,000 corneas have now been removed and transplanted.
Image 1: Prof. Reinhard uses a slit lamp microscope to check whether the transplanted cornea has grown well.
Image 2: Prof. Dr. Philip Maier, patient, Prof. Dr. Thomas Reinhard
Image source: Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Reinhard
Medical Director
Eye Center
Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-40060
thomas.reinhard@uniklinik-freiburg.de
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