Donated corneas’ age unimportant
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Older corneas seem to transplant as well as younger ones, says a major new study that promises to expand the age of cornea donation from 65 to 75.
Cincinnati researchers randomly assigned cornea recipients to get either younger or older tissue and found the corneas of both groups survived just as well five years later, they reported Tuesday in the journal Ophthalmology.
The cornea is the clear covering for the front of the eye, crucial for helping it focus light. More than 39,000 corneal transplants were performed last year, according to the Eye Bank Assn. of America.
