Therapeutic Penetrating Keratoplasty using Full-Thickness Gamma Irradiated Corneal Tissue | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Therapeutic Penetrating Keratoplasty using Full-Thickness Gamma Irradiated Corneal Tissue Gustavo Corrales, Sina Sabet, Bhaskar Kallakury, Eileen Rusnock, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-443990/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Purpose: This paper is intended to report the ultrastructural and biological features of VisionGraft®, a commercially available acellular gamma-irradiated sterile cornea. This is the first known ultrastructural examination of the VisionGraft® with electron microscopy after in-vivo explanation. Observations: This graft was initially placed for tectonic purposes in a non-responsive culture positive Aspergillus keratitis in a 50 year-old diabetic male, unresponsive to maximal medical therapy. Five months later, a second penetrating keratoplasty with fresh tissue was performed and the Visiongraft® was submitted for histopathologic evaluation. This study reports that there is minimal regrowth of nerves and endothelial cells into the graft, and corneal clarity appears to be preserved even in the absence of endothelium. Conclusions and Importance: Examination of the acellular cornea showed no significant epithelial regrowth, no nerve regeneration, no infiltration by leukocytes or antigen presenting cells, no significant endothelial regrowth, and yet, surprisingly, no interstitial edema. We offer some hypotheses for these observations based on the histopathologic evaluation and offer some suggestions for future avenues of research. Ophthalmology acellular cornea VisionGraft infectious keratitis penetrating keratoplasty corneal transplant. Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Full Text Due to technical limitations, full-text HTML conversion of this manuscript could not be completed. However, the manuscript can be downloaded and accessed as a PDF. Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-443990","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":22359752,"identity":"052b4e2d-a75e-47dd-9d64-fefae1cc231d","order_by":0,"name":"Gustavo Corrales","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"MedStar Washington Hospital Center","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gustavo","middleName":"","lastName":"Corrales","suffix":""},{"id":22359753,"identity":"b47ae675-2292-44d2-9e87-2ec0618e03a4","order_by":1,"name":"Sina Sabet","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"MedStar Washington Hospital Center","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sina","middleName":"","lastName":"Sabet","suffix":""},{"id":22359754,"identity":"4a7a829f-9577-4ae3-b1c9-8311b6c33986","order_by":2,"name":"Bhaskar Kallakury","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"MedStar Washington Hospital Center","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bhaskar","middleName":"","lastName":"Kallakury","suffix":""},{"id":22359756,"identity":"029ef4ae-2d25-4f25-9390-45def81b1482","order_by":3,"name":"Eileen Rusnock","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"MedStar Georgetown University Hospital","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Eileen","middleName":"","lastName":"Rusnock","suffix":""},{"id":22359763,"identity":"c6fde4aa-13b4-4615-b6d0-5d52af83181f","order_by":4,"name":"Cameron Sabet","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Dartmouth College","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Cameron","middleName":"","lastName":"Sabet","suffix":""},{"id":22359765,"identity":"71c8e1aa-5b3e-45fc-bd7c-d4b0f9a4ff7f","order_by":5,"name":"Esen Akpek","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Johns Hopkins Hospital","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Esen","middleName":"","lastName":"Akpek","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2021-04-20 16:29:10","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-443990/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-443990/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":8247001,"identity":"df3fa4c3-39da-4043-bf8b-d6520acc5263","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-04-20 21:05:07","extension":"jpg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":98031,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Corneal Collagen Cross-Linking. 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