{
  "abstract": "Purpose NHS Blood and Transplant Tissue and Eye Services (TES) is a multi-tissue, tissue bank supplying tissue and eyes for transplant to surgeons throughout the UK. NHSBT has two Eye Banks. These are NHSBT Filton, based in Bristol and NHSBT David Lucas Eye Bank, which is based in Liverpool. The NHSBT Manchester Eye Bank was relocated to Liverpool in 2019. NHSBT Filton took over the Pre-cutting DSAEK service in 2019, which was initially offered from the Manchester Eye Bank. Following feedback, it was highlighted that there was an Issue with the central thickness of some of the corneas being issued.Methods NHSBT use the automated single pass Gebauer system with single use blades. Our initial process involved using a pachymeter to take an initial thickness reading, then selecting an appropriate blade to provide a central thickness between 75 to 125 µm. Following the feedback that corneas were being supplied were too thick NHSBT introduced a new quality control using a pachymeter (Palmscan P2000) that was able to read a post cut thickness of the lamella bed. Whilst feedback reported an improvement in tissue thickness supplied, NHSBT received a few reports of wedge-shaped corneas being supplied. Unfortunately, the Palm scan Pachymeter was only able to provide a central thickness reading of the lamella bed and could not be used to provide a peripheral reading. Based on this feedback NHSBT purchased an implemented an OCT Analyser (Toney Casia 2) as a new quality check into our DSAEK pre-cutting service in December 2022.Results NHSBT have a release criteria for DSAEK Precut tissue of a central thickness of 75–125 µm and a diameter of greater than 8mm, with a peripheral thickness of less than 250 µm @8 mm. A review of 50 Precut corneas supplied January to March in 2024 from Filton Eye Bank:Central thickness Average 104 µm, Min 78 µm, Max 124 µmPeripheral Thickness A at 8 mm Average 155 µm, Min 94 µm, Max 241 µmPeripheral thickness B at 8 mm Average 191 µm, Min 92 µm, Max 250 µmWhilst the Gebauer system advises the diameter of cut will be greater 9 mm. The diameter of many of the cuts are between 8 mm and 9 mm with and average diameter of 8.6 mm.Conclusions Since the implementation of the OCT NHSBT is seeing an increase in demand for the service. In 2023 NHSBT supplied 201 Precut corneas, in the first 8 months of 2024 NHSBT have already exceeded the number of precut corneas supplied in 2023. The implementation of the OCT Analyser as a quality control step has improved the reliability of the quality of the Tissue being supplied and being able to provide an OCT image of the prepared Tissue has provided an Improved service for the surgeons.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), Tissue and Eye Services, Filton Eye Bank, Bristol, UK"
      ],
      "name": "David Usherwood"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), Tissue and Eye Services, Filton Eye Bank, Bristol, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Rachel Butt"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), Tissue and Eye Services, Filton Eye Bank, Bristol, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Toni Woodward"
    }
  ],
  "title": "5.4. Implementation of OCT (optical coherence tomography) analyser as part of NHSBT pre-cutting DSAEK service",
  "uid": "af675af5-2097-5a5b-a927-efa5d32674c4"
}