PURPOSE: To evaluate how the implantation of a single regional list for corneal transplants influenced an eye bank of a university hospital. To analyze the influence of the regional list on the corneas (procurement and destiny), the number of transplantations made and the average waiting time for surgery. METHODS: A retrospective study was made to compare the records of patients who underwent penetrating keratoplasty and also the data of the eye bank of the Medical School of São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. The study compared the data of the service one year before and one year after the creation of the single regional list. RESULTS: The number of transplantations increased from 60 to 92 procedures. The monthly average of directly acquired corneas increased from 13.83 + 6.57 to 18.16 + 4.8 (p-value = 0.07). The number of corneas sent to other institutions was greater than the number of corneas received from other eye banks (p-value = 0.003). There was no significant difference between the waiting time for surgery before and after the creation of the list except for the period of adaptation. CONCLUSIONS: This eye bank served as a supplier of corneas for other institutions. By the end of the first year of operation of the single regional list, there was no alteration in the waiting time as compared to that before its creation. Nonetheless, a tendency of homogenization in the waiting time for penetrating keratoplasty among the patients was observed.
Keratoplasty penetrating; Eye Banks; Waiting periods; Waiting lists; Organ procurement; Tissue donors; Corneal transplantation
