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Review
. 2020 Jul;117(7):622-625.
doi: 10.1007/s00347-020-01152-z.

[Importance of corneal organ culture in donors with possible SARS-CoV-2 infections]

[Article in German]
Sebastian Thaler  1 , Michael Schindler  2 , Thomas Iftner  2 , Karl Ulrich Bartz-Schmidt  3 , Tarek Bayyoud  3
Affiliations
Review

[Importance of corneal organ culture in donors with possible SARS-CoV-2 infections]

[Article in German]
Sebastian Thaler et al. Ophthalmologe. 2020 Jul.

Abstract
in English, German

The appearance of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV‑2) poses challenges in ophthalmology particularly for eye banks. A valid risk assessment for the removal and processing of donor corneas is difficult due to the lack of data. The risk to infect transplant recipients with SARS-CoV‑2 still appears very unlikely due to the experience with severe acute respiratory syndrome -coronavirus(‑1) (SARS-CoV(‑1)) and Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV); however, due to the occurrence of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors in the cornea an infection of this tissue with SARS-CoV‑2 cannot be completely excluded. Therefore, routine testing of the organ culture medium used for donor corneas for SARS-CoV‑2 prior to transplantation during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) pandemic should be considered.

Das Auftreten des neuartigen „schweres akutes respiratorisches Syndrom-Coronavirus-2“ (SARS-CoV‑2) stellt in der Ophthalmologie insbesondere auch die Hornhautbanken vor Herausforderungen, da eine valide Risikoabschätzung für die Entnahme und Prozessierung von Spenderhornhäuten aufgrund weniger Daten schwierig ist. Eine Gefährdung von Transplantatempfängern durch SARS-CoV‑2 erscheint auch aufgrund der Erfahrungen mit dem „schweres akutes respiratorisches Syndrom-Coronavirus(‑1)“ (SARS-CoV(‑1)) und dem „Nahost-Atemwegssyndrom-Coronavirus“ (MERS-CoV) nach wie vor als sehr unwahrscheinlich. Allerdings kann aufgrund des Vorkommens von Angiotensin-konvertierendes Enzym 2 (ACE2)-Rezeptoren in der Hornhaut eine Infektion dieses Gewebes mit SARS-CoV‑2 nicht ganz ausgeschlossen werden. Daher muss diskutiert werden, ob in der Zeit der Coronavirus-Krankheit-2019(COVID‑19)-Pandemie das Organkulturmedium von Spenderhornhäuten vor Transplantation routinemäßig auf SARS-CoV‑2 getestet werden sollte.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cornea; Coronavirus; MEM; Organ culture.

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References

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