Determination of cadaveric antibody against HIV in vitreous humor of HIV-positive patients: potential use in corneal transplantation.

The authors suggest the determination of antibody against HIV in vitreous humor as a screening technique for AIDS carriers, specially in cases of corneal transplantation when the eye bank could make the examinations required and in cases when drawing blood after death becomes difficult. Ten eyes of patients having died of AIDS-related causes were studied and 100% of the samples tested were found to be positive. False-positive results were eliminated by the study of a group of 90 eyes of patients dead from nonrelated causes; the results were all negative. Therefore, no discrepancy was noticed between the examination of the blood and the vitreous humor. A description is made of a technique which uses a special trocar that enables the examination to be made without contamination with blood. The authors conclude that the determination of antibodies in vitreous humor is a choice to be considered as a postmortem examination because it can be easily obtained and its results are reliable.