P09-A130 Management of an eye bank with organ-cultured and hypothermic corneas: microbiology in endothelial grafts.

The number of positive results for microorganisms was higher in the case of hypothermic corneas and the Bio-surveillance notifications were also a little bit higher in hypothermic corneas (2,25%) comparing to organ cultured corneas (0.64%). The management of an eye bank with both preservation systems is challenging with its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage of hypothermic corneas is the risk of not detecting contaminations because the corneas are released without any definitive results but it is compensated by the fact that they allow us to respond to emergencies, tissue returns, apart from the economic aspect.