A suction trephine block for marking donor corneal buttons
S. C. Pflugfelder, J. M. Parel, D. Denham and S. Mandelbaum
Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, FL 33101.
We describe a technique to accurately align the circumferences of the donor
button and host cornea during penetrating keratoplasty. The donor cornea is
trephined on a block into which four narrow, intersecting, equally spaced
radial cuts are made. Suction is applied to the donor cornea through the
four cuts, resulting in four radial marks in the donor corneal epithelium.
Four radial marks are also made in the host cornea before trephination,
using a radial keratotomy marker. When the donor button is placed within
the recipient opening, the radial marks are aligned and used as guides for
the cardinal sutures. This simple technique allows for matching of the
donor and host circumferences, even if there is some collapse of the
peripheral host cornea and sclera at surgery, and should minimize
astigmatism resulting from donor/host misalignment.
