ABSTRACT
Purpose : To evaluate the impact of the covid-19 pandemic and the safety of the corneal donation process in an Eye Bank in Southern Brazil. Methods : This is a cross-sectional, observational, retrospective study involving 771 potential corneal donors and their respective RT-PCR COVID-19 results. The tests were performed by collecting secretions from the oropharynx and nasopharynx and processed in a laboratory at the University Hospital of Londrina-PR, from March 2020 to November 2021. The individuals were submitted to a complementary check list to the traditional one for clinical and epidemiological screening of potential corneal donors against coronavirus (SARS-Cov2). Patients not tested for COVID-19 in this first step were excluded using the main clinical screening criteria already routinely used. The criteria used for further validation of potential donors were: donor who had COVID-19 with complete remission of symptoms for more than 28 days, donor with no clinical suspicion, and no suspected or confirmed contact of COVID-19. Donors diagnosed with COVID-19, donor with COVID-19 suspected by clinical and epidemiological evaluation, contacts of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 less than 14 days ago, and donor with clinical suspicion less than 28 days ago but negative molecular test were discarded in this evaluation. Results : Among the 771 potential corneal donors, 710 individuals performed the RT-PCR test. A total of 689 (97.04%) individuals tested negative for COVID-19. The average age of suitable donors was 52.52 ± 18.10 years, 289 (41.9%) were female and 400 (58.1%) were male. However, 21 (2.96%) individuals tested positive for COVID-19 and were discarded, even after the complementary screening implemented due to the coronavirus pandemic. Among the positives, 9 (1.2%) cases were female and 12 (1.6%) were male;the average age was 55.10 ± 23.10. Conclusions : Despite the complementary exclusion criteria for potential organ and tissue donors in the pandemic, the use of RT-PCR for COVID-19 proved to be essential to maintain safety in the corneal donation process.