Cornea Donation Calls In a Tertiary Eye Care Centre: an Audit of Donor Characteristics, Retrieval Timelines, and Corneal Grade

Abstract

Purpose: To characterize cornea donation calls received at a tertiary eye care center and evaluate donor demographics, cause of death, retrieval workflow, and their association with recorded donor corneal grade.

Methods: This retrospective observational audit included 84 consecutive cornea donation calls documented between February and August 2026. Donor age, sex, cause of death, retrieval pathway, timing variables, and recorded corneal grade were extracted. Each donor contributed two recorded corneal grades. Spearman correlation was used for ordinal grade scores; categorical associations were assessed using chi-square or Fisher exact tests, and nonparametric comparisons used the Mann–Whitney U test. Partial rank correlations controlling for age were performed for timing variables.
Results: Mean donor age was 47.8 ± 19.2 years; 68 (81.0%) donors were male. Traumatic brain injury was the commonest cause of death (43/84, 51.2%). Sixty-six (78.6%) calls involved all-organ donation and 18 (21.4%) were eye-only calls. Among 168 recorded corneas, 101 (60.1%) were grade A, 38 (22.6%) grade B, and 29 (17.3%) grade C. Forty-two donors (50.0%) had bilateral grade A corneas. Donor age showed a strong inverse correlation with corneal grade score (Spearman ρ = −0.748, P < 0.001). The association persisted across age groups (χ² = 62.42, P < 0.001). Apparent associations between grade and retrieval timing were attenuated after adjustment for age.
Conclusion: Younger donors contributed substantially more grade A tissue. Systematic recording of donation calls, rapid retrieval, and age-stratified monitoring may improve eye-bank procurement and quality assessment.