Usefulness of Prestorage Corneal Swab Culture in the Prevention of Contaminated Corneal Tissue in Corneal Transplantation

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of the prestorage corneal swab (PCS) culture to screen for corneal graft contamination after storage in Optisol-GS. Methods: A retrospective analysis of all PCS cultures was performed at the Eye Bank of Québec in Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont from September 2013 to June 2016. Whole corneal culture was performed on rejected grafts because of a positive PCS, and a contamination rate was calculated. In addition, contamination rates of corneoscleral rims were compared between corneas tested with PCS and those of imported corneas which did not have PCS. Results: Among the 1966 PCS cultures performed, 814 (41.4%) were positive for growth. Pathogenic bacteria were present in 144 (7.3%) corneas, including Staphylococcus aureus (n = 96, 11.8% of all positive cultures), Enterobacteriaceae (n = 14, 1.7%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 6, 0.7%). After preservation in Optisol-GS, only 7 (6.9%) corneas remained contaminated (95% confidence interval 5.1–9.3). The sensitivity of the PCS culture was 87.5% (95% confidence interval 47.4–99.7). There was no significant difference in corneoscleral rim contamination between corneas tested with PCS (1/388; 0.2%) compared with imported, nonswabbed corneas (3/214; 1.4%) (P = 0.131). Therefore, the cost to recover the loss of tissue rejected because of false-positive PCS by purchasing corneal tissue was calculated to be $142,884 (CAD) per year. Conclusions: Despite the high sensitivity of PCS cultures, there was no significant reduction of infection after corneal transplantation using this technique. In consequence, 93% of the corneas possibly suitable for transplantation were rejected. This suggests that the PCS culture alone is a poor test for detecting clinically relevant corneal contamination.