Fondazione Banca degli Occhi del Veneto Onlus is an organization committed to procure, evaluate, store and distribute donor ocular tissues for ophthalmic surgeons. Because of the need for safety, traceability, privacy, data acquisition, management, storage and protection, eye banks must follow many of the principles as for biobanks.
According to the annual statistical reports released by the European Eye Bank Association and the Eye Bank Association of America, about 40% of ocular tissues donated and processed for transplantation fail to meet the minumum safety and quality requirements, and must be disposed of, unless an alternative use can be found.
As a large volume eye bank may host up to 100-200 donor corneas at any given time, eye banks may also function as biobanks, with the potential to make human ocular tissues available for research, education and training. A major issue, however, must be considerend: in the context of eye banking, the ocular tissues are donated for the purpose of restoring sight through corneal transplantation.
