Managing finances of shipping living donor kidneys for donor exchanges

Kidney donor exchanges enable recipients with immunologically incompatible donors to receive compatible living donor grafts; however, the financial management of these exchanges, especially when an organ is shipped, is complex and thus has the potential to impede the broader implementation of donor exchange programs. Representatives from transplant centers that utilize the National Kidney Registry database to facilitate donor exchange transplants developed a financial model applicable to paired donor exchanges and donor chain transplants. The first tenet of the model is to eliminate financial liability to the donor. Thereafter, it accounts for the donor evaluation, donor nephrectomy hospital costs, donor nephrectomy physician fees, organ transport, donor complications and recipient inpatient services. Billing between hospitals is based on Medicare cost report defined costs rather than charges. We believe that this model complies with current federal regulations and effectively captures costs of the donor and recipient services. It could be considered as a financial paradigm for the United Network for Organ Sharing managed donor exchange program.

Behaviour of the phakic iris-claw intraocular lens (Artisan /Verisyse) during accommodation: an optical coherence biometry study

PURPOSE

To evaluate variations in the position of the phakic iris claw lens (Artisan, Verisyse) and the natural crystalline lens during the accommodation process.

METHODS

We measured changes in position of the iris claw lens and the crystalline lens during the accommodation using optical coherence biometry (AC Master/Carl Zeiss Meditec, Germany) in 17 patients (28 eyes) with a phakic iris claw lens implanted for high myopia and/or myopic astigmatism. Accommodative effort was obtained using an internal optical target within the measuring device.

RESULTS

There was a forward shift of the phakic iris claw lens with a mean of 70 microm (8-178 microm) of the optical path length (OPL). At the same time the anterior pole of the natural lens showed a forward mean movement of 85 microm (4- 260 microm).

CONCLUSIONS

An anterior displacement of the iris-claw phakic lens was shown in a series of eyes during the accommodation process. As this displacement goes along with the forward displacement of the anterior pole of the crystalline lens, the preoperative measurement of the latter might provide some additional information about the position of the iris claw lens in the accommodative state after implantation.

Inzisionale Astigmatismusbeeinflussung bei der Implantation von phaken 6-mm-Irisklauenintraokularlinsen

BACKGROUND

The implantation of a phakic 6-mm-iris-claw intraocular lens requires a 6.1-6.2 mm incision. This induces a variable amount of corneal astigmatism depending on the location and the type of the incision used. The aim of the current study is to investigate the surgically induced astigmatism (SIA) of different incision types and locations. This should help to achieve nearly spherical postoperative refraction.

PATIENTS AND METHOD

28 eyes of 16 patients with a 1-year follow-up after an implantation of a 6-mm-non-foldable iris-claw phakic IOL were studied. 5 different incision techniques were used. These were a superior corneal incision alone (8 eyes) or in combination with a 60 degrees limbal relaxing incision (LRI) at the same axis (8 eyes), a superior sclerocorneal tunnel incision (6 eyes) and the two-incisional approach either with a sclerocorneal (4 eyes) or a pure corneal (2 eyes) main temporal incision. The SIA was calculated for each incision used.

RESULTS

The superior corneal incision had a mean SIA of 1.2 D cyl. This SIA was enhanced by an opposite LRI by another 1 D cyl. The sclerocorneal tunnel induced 0.75 D cyl, while the two-incisional techniques delivered nearly astigmatismus neutral results.

CONCLUSION

A proper selection of an appropriate incision site and type allows to correct the preexisting astigmatism or to keep a spherical refraction after an implantation of a 6-mm-rigid phakic iris-claw IOL.

[Laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy (LasEk). Review of the current state of knowledge]

This article offers an overview of the current state of knowledge on the results and techniques of the evolving refractive procedure called laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy (LasEk). A few peer-reviewed published clinical and experimental studies on this new technique are critically debated. Furthermore we discuss the indications for this procedure in comparison to photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser in situ keratomileusis (Lasik) based on the current body of literature and the first author's clinical and scientific personal experience.