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Corneal Transplantation

Criteria for establishment of a corneal transplant center
The Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation through its specialized committees has laid down certain criteria for establishment or corneal transplant centers in the Kingdom. They are:
  1. Working Staff

  • Consultant corneal transplant surgeons: There should bone consultant in corneal transplantation with good experience in performing corneal transplants and treating external eye diseases for at least one year from a recognized international corneal transplant center on the condition that he has done a large number of the operations himself with a certificate confirming that. Alternatively, he should have gained experience of at least five years in corneal transplantation from a recognized hospital and upon certificate issued from this hospital.

  • One consultant: Anesthesiologist with experience in anesthesia for eye surgery.

  • Full-time microbiologist with a microbiology department in the hospital.

  • An eye-bank technician with experience in preservation of cornea and evaluation of suitability of cornea for transplantation. Alternatively, the consultant corneal transplant surgeon could accept to perform this duty.

  • Corneal transplant coordinator with experience in co-ordination of corneal transplantation and preservation of corneas till the time of transplant.

  • Nursing Staff: They must be highly experienced in taking care of patients during and after corneal transplantation.
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  1. Technical facilities required
  • Ophthalmology department fully equipped with:
  1. Biomicroscope (slit lamp)

  2. Opthalmoscopes

  3. Visual acuity charts

  4. Refractometer

  5. Retinoscopes

  6. Tonometers

  7. Outpatient clinic that is fully equipped for examination of patients who have already undergone corneal transplantation as well as evaluating those who are potential candidates (should have special forceps, plates, speculum, etc.)

  • The hospital should have fully equipped operating rooms with surgical microscope, vitreoctomy equipment etc., for performing major eye operations.

* One qualified person should perform the duties of eye-bank technician and coordinator for corneal transplantation.

Priority criteria for corneal transplantation

Corneas will be distributed according to priority criteria laid down by the Corneal Transplant committee of the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation as follows: *

  • Priority 1: A patient with corneal perforation or who has a disease or lesion in the anterior part of the eye needing urgent reparation.

  • Priority 2: Loss of vision due to a corneal lesion in a person who has only one functioning eye.

  • Priority 3: patients who are not included in any of the previous categories and who will be transplanted according to the duration on the waiting list.

Patients having priority 1 have the absolute priority at any time a cornea is available and cornea is transplanted to such patients who are in the same region from where cornea was harvested. If there are no patients on this priority level in the same region, but there is a patient in another region, the cornea is transplanted in that region. If there is no patient in the priority number 1 at any place in the Kingdom, corneas are transplanted to patients on the local waiting list according to priority level and if there is no suitable patient in the region from which cornea was harvested, cornea will be transported to any other region to be transplanted according to priority level.

The Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation has adopted five main hospitals in different regions of the Kingdom as eye banks. All the corneal transplant centers in a region are attached the blank in their region. These banks are:

  1. Central region: King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, Riyadh.

  2. Western region: Eye Hospital, Jeddah.

  3. Southern region: Armed Forces Hospital in the Southern region.

  4. Northern region: Armed Forces Hospital in the Northwestern region.

  5. Eastern region: King Fahd Medical Military Complex, Dhahran.

  6. Each transplant center should send a list of the names of its patients needing corneal transplantation to the eye-bank in the region as mentioned above which will in turn, send it to the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation so as to establish a national waiting list.

* If there is more than one patient under a particular category, patient selection will be based on his/her age.
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