Donor cornea contamination with McCarey-Kaufman medium preservation.

A patient had corneal infection with Staphylococcus aureus after keratoplasty from tissue preserved in McCarey-Kaufman medium. The small, successfully treated corneal infection was from the same organism cultured from the tissue culture medium at the time of transplantation. Possible sources of donor-tissue contamination included the increase in ocular flora seen in postmortem eyes, blood-borne bacteria, lack of sterile technique in securing donor tissue, inadequate irrigation of the tissue, and inadequate use of topical antibiotics on the tissue. Preservation medium and specimens from medium-preserved and refrigerated corneas should be cultured before and during surgery.