Donating and harvesting corneas
As of November 2024, the local organ and tissue donation coordination team is responsible for identifying possible cornea donors from deceased patients in the internal medicine and intensive care medicine departments of Lugano Regional Hospital (Civico).
The process of corneal donation and harvesting is characterized by these activities:
- identification of potential donors among deceased patients;
- verification of contraindications to donation;
- search for presumed or expressed wishes of family members to proceed with donation;
- requesting consent for collection through a telephone or in-person interview;
- examination of the body and blood sampling to rule out infection or disease;
- collection of corneas within 24-48 hours of death;
- shipment of corneas to the Geneva Cornea Bank, where they will undergo rigorous quality control in anticipation of transplantation.
The entire process is ensured by organ and tissue donation coordinators.
This activity is part of a national project supported by the Swisstransplant Foundation whose main goal is to increase the availability of corneas suitable for transplantation in Switzerland.
Corneal donation is crucial because it enables transplant recipients to regain their sight and thus improve their quality of life.
It is the most widely practiced transplant in the world. In Switzerland about 1,000 times a year (source: Swisstransplant).
