CORNEA GRAFTS

In 1838, Richard Kissam took the cornea of a pig and grafted it into the eye of a human patient - two weeks later the grafted cornea started to become opaque and soon was absorbed. The patient was unable to see(1). Marcus, in 1841, and Steinberg, in 1843, tried animal-to-human cornea grafts - and failed(2). Wutzer used cornea of a sheep, which was grafted into a human patient and was said, initially, to "have taken" - but the grafted cornea of the sheep soon clouded over(3).

Henry Power used cats and rabbits in his experiments to try and find out if corneas of one species could be grafted into another. When, in 1872, he grafted corneas of rabbits into two children, the grafted corneas became opaque and failed to function(4). Five years later, Arthur von Hippel grafted into a human, the cornea disc of a dog - which clouded over(5).

It was not until 1905 that Conrad Zirm carried out a full-thickness cornea graft of a human cornea to another human, which proved successful and the recipient retained the graft until he died(6). A clinician had succeeded where animal experimenters failed.

refs

1. Snyder,C. Our Ophthalmic Heritage. J&A Churchill. 1967.

2. Gorin,G. Hisotry of Ophthalmology. Publish or Perish. 1982.

3. Rycrift,BW [ed]. Corneal Grafts. Butterworth & Co. 1955.

4. Report of Proc of 4th Interl Ophthalmological Congress. Saville, Edwards & Co. 1873.

5. Gorin,G. Hisotry of Ophthalmology. Publish or Perish. 1982.

6. Morris,P. Tissue Transplantation. Churchill Livingstone. 1982.