[Insulation characteristics of transport containers for organ cultured donor corneas under different ambient temperatures]

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of different transport containers to maintain an inside temperature between +10 and +40 degrees C, which is supposed to be safe for organ cultured donor corneas in dextran containing culture media, for a period of 24 hours at ambient temperatures of -10, 0, +10 and +50 degrees C.

Materials and methods: 3 containers were tested: 1. Styrofoam box with 2.5 cm thick walls (Graft-tec, AL.CHI.MI.A., Padova, Italy). 2. Thermos jug 0.5 litre (Primus, Solna, Sweden), a double walled metal jug. 3. ThempShell-22 degrees (VWR International, Darmstadt, Germany), a box of gel filled plastic elements. The containers were exposed to -10, 0, +10 and +50 degrees C for 24 hours each. A continuous temperature recording of the ambient and internal environments was performed using electronic thermometers (Mini Intelligent Logger, Escort).

Results: The inside temperature of the styrofoam box reached the outside temperature level after 80 - 230 min for all tested settings. The Thermos jug reached the outside temperature approximately after 5 hours. In contrast, the inside temperature of the TempShell-22 degrees CC was at -10 degrees C outside temperature 21 degrees C after 6 hours, 19 degrees C after 12 hours and 12 degrees C after 24 hours. At an ambient temperature of 0 and +10 degrees C the inside temperature of the TempShell-22 degrees C was 19.2 and 17.8 degrees C respectively after 24 hours. An ambient temperature of + 50 degrees C led to an inside temperature of the TempShell-22 degrees C of 30.5 degrees C after 6, 38.3 degrees C after 12 hours and 47.0 degrees C after 24 hours.

Conclusions: A standard Styrofoam box with 2.5 cm thick walls and the tested thermos jug are not suitable to assure a safe temperature range. The TempShell-22 degrees C assures a safe temperature range for low ambient temperatures (-10 to +10 degrees C) for at least 24 hours and for an ambient temperature of +50 degrees C for at least 10 hours.